Mentoring graduate students through the action research journey using guiding principles

Our department has adopted action research (AR) projects as the culminating task for our master’s degree candidates. This article presents our work on mentoring graduate students towards the completion of their final AR research projects and details the deliberate structures put in place to guide them through the AR process. These structures include a full-semester course, individual meetings with an AR chair, and collaborative faculty–student feedback sessions. These collaborative conversations (between students and faculty) have allowed us to clarify our understandings of AR, set standards and goals for AR, and raise our expectations on the quality of final AR projects. We hope that the discussion in this article will give students assigned AR new insights as they conduct their research. Also, we hope that the guiding principles we have derived through our efforts can inform others who currently use or plan to assign AR to their students.     

Interconnectedness and difference between action research and a lesson design study in Shanghai,China

ABSTRACT

The professional development of teachers in China takes place, to a large extent, in Teaching Research Groups (TRG) that exist in all schools. Though there are diverse models of TRG activities, these might, on the surface, appear to resemble forms of Action Research (AR) or include elements that might resemble AR. In conducting a Lesson Design Study (LDS) with a TRG in Shanghai, we encountered the specific challenge of what might be the interconnectedness and differences between AR and our LDS. To address this issue, we applied a research-informed depiction of the distinguishing characteristics of AR to our LDS. Based on this analysis, we found that (1) in contrast to the depiction of AR that encompasses a choice of methods, our LDS follows a specific ‘design research’ methodology, (2) whereas the depiction of AR is simultaneously directed towards teacher self-change and restructuring the organisation or institution within which the teacher works, LDS concerns more than the practical questions in one local social context and aims to tackle bigger questions across the social contexts in the subject research field, and (3) whereas in the depiction of AR, teachers engage in a process of authentic collaboration with other teachers seeking to improve their practices, in the LDS community the external researchers and expert teachers play other roles in the TRG. Even though there may be differences between the depiction of AR and our LDS, the interconnectedness is important in that both AR and our LDS contribute directly to school-based teacher professional development.     

The role of feedback in young people’s academic choices

ABSTRACT

Women are underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics subjects with more girls leaving these subjects at every stage in education. The current research used a scenario methodology to examine the impact of teacher feedback on girls’ and boys’ choices to study a specific science subject, engineering. British participants aged 13 (N?=?479) were given scenarios where a new teacher encouraged them to take engineering using person feedback which focussed on their abilities, process feedback which focussed on their effort levels or gave them no reason. Results suggested that both boys and girls were more likely to select to study engineering when they received person feedback rather than process or no feedback. Young people also thought that ability was more important to being successful in science than in non-science subjects.This suggests young people feel that ability is needed to succeed in science subjects and person feedback can lead them to believe that they have this ability. Therefore, teacher feedback which gives ability attributions for possible success could be used to encourage more young people to persist in science. However, the potentially negative longer term outcomes of ability attributions and how they may be negated are also discussed.     

Understanding Candidates’ Learning Relationships with their Cooperating Teachers: A call to Reframe my Pedagogy

Abstract

This self-study frames the influences of cooperating (or mentor) teachers on teacher candidates in my teacher education classroom as an action-at-a-distance on my pedagogy of teacher education; that is, a tacit set of influences and expectations that teacher candidates develop about my course before it even begins. Interviews with teacher candidates enabled me to develop two conceptual metaphors to think about the relationships candidates develop with cooperating teachers on practicum. The first, freedom with foundation, reflects the fact that teacher candidates hope to have considerable autonomy in their practicum placements while simultaneously having the support from their cooperating teacher to receive meaningful, regular, feedback. The second, power and performance, names the tensions teacher candidates feel in experiencing the practicum as a site of performance rather than as a site of learning. I offer some specific pedagogical ways in which I have responded to these issues before making a turn to self. I examined journal entries from my own experiences as a teacher candidate 20 years ago with a view to understanding the ways in which the two metaphors may have played a role in my own development as a teacher. This research compels me to attend explicitly to action-at-at-distance forces in my teacher education classroom, such as candidates’ relationship with cooperating teachers and my relationships with my former cooperating teachers.     

Developing a Pedagogy of “Making” through Collaborative Self-Study

We believe that the ideas associated with the Maker Movement have profound implications for teacher education. We have isolated the pedagogical principles of hack, adapt, design, and create as central to exploring how they work with teacher candidate participants in a maker pedagogy lab. We frame these ideas as Maker Pedagogy, which is the enactment of the principles inspired by the maker movement in the classroom to foster learners who operate as innovators, creators, sharers and givers of knowledge, tools and technologies. The purpose of our self-study research is to describe, interpret and analyze how our pedagogies of teacher education and our critical friendship have changed and developed as a result of providing experiences for teacher candidates in our maker pedagogy lab. In this project we use self-study methodology to investigate our teaching and practices, and we dialogue about our tacit and personal knowledge as it contributes to the knowledge and understanding of our teaching through Maker Pedagogy. In particular, the emphasis is on critical collaborative inquiry through critical friends and on dialogue as a valued component of our research. Of particular interest were data in the video recordings of each lab that indicated that one or both of us had reframed our understanding of maker pedagogy. The findings are framed as three themes that document what we are learning about Maker Pedagogy through teaching teacher candidates. These are (1) the value of self-study methodology, (2) Maker Pedagogy as distinct and (3) deepening our pedagogies of teacher education.     

Straddling Teacher Candidates’ Two Worlds to Link Practice and Theory: A Self-Study of Successful and Unsuccessful Efforts

Abstract

This self-study examines a teacher educator’s quest to provide an integrated practice-and-theory approach to learning to teach that places the experiences of the teacher candidates at the centre of the curriculum by focussing on their developing questions, challenges and issues through socio-constructivist discussions of their emerging practices. Constraints of university structures with regards to offering such an approach are discussed, including the impact that offering seminars on the university campus rather than in schools has on teacher candidates’ ability to integrate theories and practices of learning to teach. The research questions guiding this study include: How can I understand what process candidates actually undergo during practicum in the development of their ability as teachers vis-à-vis my course?, and How can I re-structure and re-organize my course to enhance the development of candidates’ practice as teachers? Data include interviews with volunteer student participants before and after observations made during classroom visits as well as discussions with groups of students. Analysis is based on reading and rereading the data as well as discussing it with the larger research team. The findings include the realization of how little of my course is integrated into my teacher candidates’ teaching, how much greater the influence of their mentor teacher is, and the extent to which teacher candidates need explicit help and guidance to transform or reframe their teaching. The article concludes with specific suggestions for adjusting a seminar associated with the practicum to enhance the development of a practice-and-theory approach to teaching.     

Responding to the challenge of providing stronger research base for teacher education: research discourses in the Norwegian national research school for teacher education

Background and purpose: The purpose of this article is to shed light on how the research projects of 140 PhD candidates in the National Research School for Teacher Education in Norway (NAFOL) respond to the challenges faced by Norwegian teacher education regarding the demand for higher competence and a stronger research base. The concept of NAFOL is of interest from an international perspective because of its focus on facilitating teacher educators to achieve a PhD. Since 2001, Norwegian educational policy has had a strong focus on strengthening teacher education and making it more research-based than before. From 2017, all new teachers in Norway are expected to take a master’s degree. In order to accomplish this, there is a need for many new supervisors with a PhD in teacher education institutions. NAFOL is a unique project: a consortium of 23 participating network institutions within teacher education. The research school includes 140 research fellows, all of whom wish to achieve a PhD suitable for work in teacher education. The research school is funded by the Norwegian Research Council, originally for a project period from 2010 to 2016. The research school has had a positive external midway evaluation, and the project period has been extended with four cohorts of students to the end of 2021. However, this study is the first one looking into the research projects of this young generation of teacher education researchers. The research question posed in this article is: how do the research projects of the NAFOL PhD candidates contribute to the research base in teacher education? Main argument: The main argument in this article is that the potential impact of this research school is dependent on the quality of the large number of PhD projects connected to teacher education and education in general developed within the research school. The quality is likely to be good because, among other reasons, these projects are scrutinised by the research school community. The challenges these research projects face, located as they are between solidarity regarding grants from the funds financing the PhD candidates, solidarity with the aims of education, and the wish to contribute to innovation, might prove to be able to be met. These research projects have the potential to create innovation in teacher education research through ‘border crossing’ between different educational discourses, as well as through creating new knowledge in meta-studies based on the results from several projects. Sources of evidence and method: In this article, project abstracts from 140 PhD candidates participating in NAFOL are analysed in terms of their theme and problem formulation. The analysis is inspired by discourse analytical thinking – namely that in a certain situation, several conditions for action exist. In this study, these conditions for action are made apparent in the choice of theme and problem formulation in the research projects. The content analysis is focused on ‘signal words’, because these words might signal positioning in different educational discourses. Results: In the study, three main discourses can be seen as influencing the choice of topic and the problem formulation in the projects: a goal-oriented educational discourse, a ‘Bildung’ (i.e. character formation, or personal growth – ‘danning’ in Norwegian) and democracy discourse, and a critical knowledge-producing discourse. These discourses are constituted when the PhD candidates start their research projects but the conditions for action are ever-changing and, hence, the findings in this study cannot, of course, be considered as ‘final’. The development of these discourses within the research community of NAFOL is one way of scrutinising the research projects in order to make a contribution to qualified teacher education research. Conclusion: ‘Border crossing’ between discourses in research projects concerned with what might be, and what can make a difference in a knowledge society could be a key way of enhancing the future for a young generation of researchers in teacher education. The research projects carried out by the PhD candidates in NAFOL have the potential to develop both new knowledge and new discourses of importance for Norwegian teacher education, as well as for a broader international context regarding professional development in teacher education and education in general. The view of the teacher education profession – and on what a teacher educator can be – could become more fully informed than before the candidates’ participation in the research school.     

Provision of early field experiences for teacher candidates in Singapore and how it can contribute to teacher resilience and retention

While teacher retention is a pressing issue for many jurisdictions, Singapore has a relatively low teacher attrition rate. Drawing on the experiences of student teachers from the sole institute for pre-service teacher education in Singapore, this article argues that it is important to expose teacher candidates to a substantial period of school experience as part of the teacher recruitment process. Before they are officially enrolled into pre-service teacher education, the Ministry of Education in Singapore requires all teacher candidates in the Postgraduate Diploma of Education program to go through a compulsory school stint. The authors' research findings show that this exposure to the realities and complexities of teaching can be an important contributor to teacher retention in terms of assessing and promoting teacher candidates’ resilient qualities, such as passion for teaching, self-efficacy beliefs, and positive emotion. In other words, early field experiences can help teacher candidates understand themselves as teachers and assess their own suitability for a teaching career. This study sheds new light on the policies and practices of teacher retention and teacher recruitment strategies.     

Grade one peer and teacher feedback on student writing

This article examines a grade one teacher's support for her students’ writing development through formal peer and teacher feedback. The teacher modelled and provided examples of effective feedback and good writing in whole-class and small-group lessons and in her own one-on-one verbal feedback on student writing. She allocated time for the students to participate in formal peer-feedback sessions, in turn giving feedback to the students on the suggestions to one another during these sessions. Students gave more content-oriented than conventions-oriented feedback to each other. They revised the content and writing conventions of their writing in response to 90% of the feedback they received from their peers and teacher.     

美国教师教育项目中教师品性评价的实施

为了培养优秀的教师候选人,美国教师教育项目开展了教师品性评价。该评价贯穿于教师候选人的整个学习和实习期间,旨在使教师候选人的品性在不断的反馈中得到充分发展。美国各高校教师教育项目对教师候选人的成功至关重要的品性评价内容进行界定。评价所使用的方法包括行为检核表、评价量表、访谈和品性反思文章。品性评价的实施涉及教师品性评价介绍课程、签订教师品性评价协议、四次主要评价、不定时的评价和评价结果的应用。教师品性的改进采用发挥教授和导师的模范作用、教师品性研讨会、品性改进课程和PDR-PREP方法等途径。     

A Collective Self-Study to Improve Program Coherence of Clinical Experiences

Student feedback collected through program evaluation of secondary education licensure and Master’s program clinical experiences prompted us to conduct a collective self-study. We used a reflective framework for analysis and discussion of the shifts students in our courses made as they progressed from observers to practicing teachers. Along with our graduate students, we collected and shared data and analysis from two courses – an introductory mathematics course for pre-service teachers and a capstone self-study teacher research course for in-service teachers. Data included students’ reflective accounts of their clinical experiences, dialogue with peers in response memos and focus groups, and our meta-conversation about and interpretations of data captured in meeting notes, audio recordings of meetings, email exchanges, and video conferencing over a two-month period. Analysis resulted in reframed thinking about our teaching and implications for program coherence, including provision of meaningful participant observations in diverse settings, design of dialogic platforms for students to make connections, and support of a critical level of reflection to inform teacher professional practice. The results are informative to teacher educators and programs seeking to better understand their roles in designing dialogic spaces for students to think deeply about the connections of their courses to clinical experiences and in supporting ongoing teacher professional development. The study highlights the benefits of faculty collective self-studies and contributes to the literature on self-study for program development.     

Teachers’ use of research evidence in practice: a pilot study of feedback to enhance learning

Background: There is worldwide interest in improving the effectiveness of teachers and teaching. This paper considers two strands of that interest. It revisits the impact of using enhanced feedback from teachers to pupils as a way of improving attainment, and it looks at the feasibility of teachers using research evidence to create their own interventions. Current evidence on the causal impact of effective feedback on learning is unclear: many studies have mixed results, are small in scale, lack randomisation or are not conducted in real classroom conditions. Purpose: The aim of this paper is to describe the experience of schools as they engage with research evidence to support their own enquiry into the effectiveness of feedback in the classroom. Research design: This study took place over one academic year, involving nine treatment schools in one local authority. The study involved teachers themselves using research findings to create an intervention, which took, as its focus, enhanced feedback in the classroom. Test results from these schools were compared to the results in 5 participating comparator schools, to the 49 other schools in the borough and to all state-funded primary schools in England. Results: Although teachers showed that they could engage with research evidence, the study indicated that the process was complex in practice. In addition, the independent impact evaluation suggested that enhanced feedback in itself does not necessarily lead to improved pupil test performance. Discussion and conclusions: The paper considers some of the challenges faced by teachers as they attempted to use research evidence, and discusses implications for schools wishing to use research evidence in practice. The findings of the study suggest that it may be feasible for practitioners to use research evidence to inform their own practice. However, to do it well would require clearer guidance, professional development and modelling of any strategies suggested. These findings have implications for policy on teacher development, and for the research community to make research outputs more comprehensible and accessible to research users.     

Unpacking the roles of the facilitator in higher education professional learning communities

ABSTRACT

Facilitators are central for the success of professional learning communities (PLCs). Yet, their specific roles in supporting teacher learning remain still largely underexplored. To address this gap, the current multiple case study examines the roles of 4 university PLC facilitators, the strategies they used to support teacher learning, and the challenges they experienced in their work. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and document analysis of facilitators’ reflective journals and annual reports. Our findings revealed that the roles of PLC facilitators must continuously adapt to the needs of the community. Facilitators’ tasks ranged from organizing group work and supporting community building to generating opportunities for teacher learning by stimulating reflection and by providing access to relevant resources and continuous feedback. Challenges associated with their roles included time limitations, the need to avoid the image of experts, and keeping a critical stance whilst building a close relationship with the PLC.     

Coteaching in early childhood clinical field experiences: a cross-case study of learning affordances

ABSTRACT

Coteaching, a model for learning to teach, places teacher candidates alongside clinical educators in classrooms. Learning occurs through shared practice and on-going explication of thinking and reflection. This cross-case study of six dyads from an undergraduate early childhood inclusive preservice education program examines ways that coteaching afforded opportunities for developing collaborative and adaptive expertise. It was found that opportunities for learning these skills were afforded through coteaching student teaching experiences, although in different ways, and that limited affordances outnumbered strong learning opportunities. Implications for further development of the early childhood coteaching teacher education model, and for professional development, are discussed.     

Evaluating constructivist beliefs of teacher candidates

Abstract

Teacher education programs that want their future teachers to embrace and employee constructivist principles must strive to provide opportunities for teacher candidates to develop an understanding of constructivism. The paper presents a structure for embedding constructivist principles into early childhood and elementary teacher education courses and the results of a pilot study at a Mid‐Western University. The results of the study demonstrate that teacher candidates believe that constructivist practices are very to extremely important. In addition, their responses indicated that the teacher candidates believe that their role in a constructivist environment is very to extremely important. The study reinforces the importance of providing experiences in teacher education programs that will result in positive views of constructivism. © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.     

MAKING THE CONNECTION THROUGH STAFFING: MECHANISMS TO INCREASE CONSISTENCY BETWEEN UNIVERSITY EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION COURSES AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT LAB SCHOOL PRACTICES

Abstract

A team of early childhood teacher education faculty developed the 3‐D talent development model of teacher education, blending theory and research from many sources. These sources include research on talent development, nonuniversal development, and roles of teachers and their professional growth. The faculty integrated constructs from these sources into a program rooted in principles of social constructivism. Using the 3‐D model, the faculty team identified their task as taking students of teaching through the phases of discovery, discipline, and divergence. Assessments that we developed needed to correspond to this conceptual framework, moving us away from traditional types of student assessment. In this article we offer a synopsis of the talent development model; review five of the approaches to student assessment we use, including alternative assessment activities, “Employmee” feedback forms, electronic portfolios, state teacher evaluation frameworks, and action research projects; and articulate the linkages between our approach to assessment and the talent development model of teacher education.     

Rethinking researcher–teacher roles and relationships in educational action research through the use of Nel Noddings’ ethics of care

ABSTRACT

Action research approaches have evolved out of a criticism of previous research traditions, where teachers have been seen as research objects, at risk of being marginalized. Such approaches have also arisen out of the view that teaching, learning, and educational research are interrelated. In action research, teachers are seen as professionals, raising their status to subjects, conducting own research. The research is carried out with or by people rather than on someone, which changes the roles and relationships. Ethical dilemmas can arise, especially evident in action research, where the distinctions between researcher and researched are blurred or removed altogether. This paper aims to explore the changing roles and relationships between researchers and teachers in action research through a philosophical analysis based on the writings of Nel Noddings, especially the concept of ethics of care. The analysis creates an opportunity for a rethinking of researcher–teacher roles, focusing on responsibility and knowledge as well as reciprocity and communication. Based on the author’s own action research experiences, various dilemmas are discussed. Obstacles to and opportunities for developing caring relationships between researchers and teachers will also be highlighted. The implications of the study include valuing both researcher and teacher expertise and learning to understand each other’s perspectives as well as giving tailored care. It is also vital to find strategies to contextualize and enact these views and beliefs within the researcher–teacher relationship. Neither researchers nor teachers will have total control over the process, as they stay open to each other’s perspectives and needs based on a caring relationship.     

Opportunities to analyse pupils’ learning within coursework on campus: a remaining challenge in teacher education

To support pupils’ learning, teachers must understand what and how their pupils have learned, and teacher education should teach candidates how to do this. This article reports on survey data (n = 270) from three programmes and observation data (N = 104 h) from six programmes, located in Norway, Finland and the US. It examines the candidates’ opportunities to analyse pupils’ learning within their coursework. The authors argue that such opportunities might constitute profound possibilities to examine the complexity of teaching and learning. However, the study finds that the candidates have few opportunities to analyse pupils learning and that the full potential of these opportunities is unrealized. The authors argue for increased, specific attention to pupils’ learning within teacher education coursework, through a pedagogy of teacher education informed by existing research on how to elicit pupils’ learning.