‘It will make me a real teacher’: Learning experiences of part time PGCE students in South Africa

The province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa has a recent estimate of 8000 unqualified and under-qualified teachers. Some of these teachers have an undergraduate degree, but do not have a professional qualification. In order to become professionally qualified, teachers with a degree must complete a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE), which is traditionally a programme offered to fulltime ‘pre-service’ student teachers. However, part-time students have already been teaching in schools for some years and thus are in fact ‘in-service’ teachers. They have already gained professional practical knowledge through learning on-the-job. The study aimed to investigate what kind of knowledge they had learnt through experience and how this knowledge changes as a result of their formal learning on the PGCE. The study interviewed twenty part time PGCE students who are already practicing teachers about the kind of professional knowledge they acquired through the formal programme and their perceptions of how their practice changed as a result of this learning. Most of the respondents said that they had changed their teaching practice as a result of studying for the PGCE and that pedagogical knowledge about assessment, classroom management and lesson structuring strategies were deemed to be most important. More than half reported that the programme had developed their confidence as a result of both developing personal competence and through becoming a ‘real’ teacher by dint of achieving professional status. This points to the importance of offering teachers with a degree the opportunity to become professionally qualified through a flexibly offered programme.     

Evaluation of 2+2 alternative teacher performance appraisal program in Shanxi,People's Republic of China

This study examined the impact of the 2+2 Alternative Teacher Performance Appraisal System that has been implemented in Shanxi province in China. A mixed research design was used to evaluate the program. Six high schools and a total of 78 teachers (13 teachers in each school) in Shanxi province were selected. Three of the schools participated in the 2+2 program while another three served as the comparison. The results showed that 2+2 program significantly improved teachers’ professional performance, enhanced teachers’ collaboration, and increased the feedback between the peers.     

Differences in teachers’ comments on classroom events as indicators of their professional development

This study aims at identifying indicators of schoolteachers’ professional development by learning teachers’ perceptual and thinking capabilities of classroom events as reflected in their comments. The analysis of comments produced by novice and expert teachers on videotaped lesson activities, based mainly on the grounded theory strategy, revealed that expert teachers are more sensitive towards certain instructional events and to general teaching strategy used by the model teacher than novice teachers. The findings of this study might be useful for promoting student teachers’ professional sensitivity towards relevant features of classroom instruction and atmosphere in pre-service teacher education programs.     

Great expectations: Teacher learning in a national professional development programme

This paper reports findings from an evaluation of a national continuing professional development (CPD) programme for teachers in England. Data showed that the localised implementation, opportunities for interactive learning, and ‘collective participation’ were positive factors. Research participants reported difficulties, however, in ‘cascading’ knowledge to colleagues and in sustaining and developing their learning. It is argued that these limitations were rooted in an inconsistent theory of learning that underpinned the programme and a failure to conceptualise teachers as ‘lead learners’ in schools. Wider implications for the design of teachers’ professional development are considered.     

Teacher beliefs and teacher behaviour in portfolio assessment

This study concerns the relation between teachers’ beliefs towards teaching behaviour and their actual teaching behaviour in teacher portfolio assessment. We analysed the beliefs and behaviour of 18 teachers as described in their portfolios. In addition, each portfolio was independently assessed by two trained raters on eight content standards and the teachers’ classroom behaviour was assessed by their own students in a questionnaire (n=317). Linear multilevel analysis showed that part of the raters’ assessments of the teachers’ beliefs and their behaviour as described in their portfolios was significantly related to the students’ assessments of their teachers’ behaviour. Teachers with high raters’ assessments on the content standard about ‘choosing and arguing for teaching strategies that meet students’ knowledge, abilities and experience’ had significantly higher student assessments than teachers who were judged low on this standard. Implications of the results and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

The antecedents of teacher satisfaction with professional development programs

Literature has shown that on-the-job professional development programs are most beneficial when they are long-term, focused on students’ learning, and linked to the curricula. We hypothesized that the higher the control teachers have over job professional development processes, and the greater the resemblance of these processes to the typical teaching culture in classrooms, the greater the teachers’ satisfaction with job professional development processes. The findings of this study demonstrate that the main factors affecting teachers’ satisfaction with the instructional programs are related to their desire to maintain instructional processes “close to home”, and to shape these processes in accordance with their needs and expectations. The implications of the study are discussed with relation to decision-makers in the school setting and at the local authorities’ level.     

Teacher learning from analysis of videotaped classroom situations: Does it make a difference whether teachers observe their own teaching or that of others?

This study uses an experimental approach to investigate effects that analyzing videos of one’s own versus others’ teaching and experience with video has on teacher learning, particularly on knowledge activation and professional vision (N = 67). Teachers who analyzed their own teaching experienced higher activation, indicated by higher immersion, resonance, and motivation. Contrary to our assumptions differences with regard to professional vision were not straightforward. In tendency, teachers noticed more relevant components of teaching and learning but were less self-reflective with regard to articulating critical incidents.     

Engaging pre-service science teachers to act as active designers of technology integration: A MAGDAIRE framework

This paper describes our efforts in developing the MAGDAIRE framework (abbreviated from Modeled Analysis, Guided Development, Articulated Implementation, and Reflected Evaluation) to transform pre-service science teachers’ roles in a teacher education course: moving pre-service teachers from the roles of passive users of technology, as they themselves learn technology integration, into active designers of technology. The results suggested that MAGDAIRE significantly improved the pre-service teachers’ technology competency levels. Moreover, MAGDAIRE facilitated the pre-service teachers’ critical reexamination of the affordances of technology for their teaching practices from the views of subject matter selection, motivation empowerment, information presentation, activity design, and pedagogy transition.     

Co-constructing efficacy: A “communities of practice” perspective on teachers’ efficacy beliefs

Teachers’ efficacy beliefs are critical to improving student learning, but we have yet to fully understand how these beliefs develop. The prevailing model of teachers’ efficacy development emerges from cognitive theories, but sociocultural theories may add insights to modeling the impact of teachers’ school contexts. This case study takes a “communities of practice” approach to explore the connections between teachers’ evidence-based decision-making practices and their efficacy beliefs. Findings, based on interviews with four teachers, indicate that teachers co-construct their efficacy beliefs in shared practices, suggesting the usefulness of communities of practice theory to more fully understand teachers’ efficacy belief development.     

Situated learning in an educational technology course for pre-service teachers

This qualitative study investigated a situated learning environment implemented in an educational technology course where pre-service teachers worked collaboratively on meaningful real-world projects, assuming the role of professional teachers. With a traditional learning environment as a critical frame of reference, we found that the students in the situated learning environment demonstrated sophisticated problem-solving skills, exhibited metacognitive awareness, produced coherent artifacts, and showed high levels of motivation. The findings implied that if we want to successfully implement situated learning, effort should be made to promote a constructive learning culture, improve individual performance, manage students’ perceptions, and foster their positive attitudes.     

It's not all about school: Ways of disrupting pre-service teachers' perceptions of pedagogy and communication

Many pre-service teachers enter teacher education with problematic or unexamined assumptions about learners and teaching. This article reports on an authentic learning opportunity offered to 22 pre-service teachers in their first year at university, which attempts to disrupt these perceptions about learning and pedagogy. Using a new application of Butin's conceptual framework we show that during the project these participants developed more complex notions of learners and ways of making meaning. We argue that these ‘real-world’ experiences, when offered before pre-service teachers begin practicum in schools, provide more ‘resources’ to problematise the practices and institutional discourses encountered in schools.     

Teachers’ and pupils’ perceptions of science–technology learning environments

During recent decades, educational research has dealt with the contribution of the learning environment to the accomplishment of educational goals, such as improvement of academic achievement and motivation. In this research, an intervention program was implemented into the learning environment of science–technology classes at the junior high school level (Grades 7–9, 12–15 years old) in Israel. The intervention included a three-year workshop involving 224 hours each year. The teachers (N = 22) were required to reflect on their experiences using a portfolio that described their actual teaching experiences for relevant discussions at the workshop. Quantitative and qualitative tools were used to examine the teachers’ implementation of new teaching/learning and assessment methods or new subject matter, that were addressed by the workshop in their classes, and to identify learning environment characteristics and learning outcomes according to teachers’ perceptions. Differences were found between teachers’ and pupils’ perceptions of the impact of learning environment characteristics on learning outcomes.     

“Can you tell me more about this?”: Agentic written feedback,teacher expectations,and student learning

Teachers are not only tasked with communicating facts, figures, and skills to their students, but they are also responsible for equipping students to be self-sufficient learners who believe in their own capacity to learn and improve. In this paper, we propose that written feedback that offers students agency (what we call ‘agentic feedback’) can be a way for teachers to build more independent and self-efficacious learners, and to instill in students the trust that their teacher believes in them. In the first study, we develop a novel qualitative coding scheme to measure the degree of agency offered in teachers’ written feedback (N = 136) and produce a coherent ‘agentic feedback’ variable. In the second study, we find that middle and high school students (N = 1,260) are sensitive to the amount of agency provided in teachers’ feedback: they perceive that agentic feedback affords more choice and requires more effort for revision, encourages greater learning and improvement on writing, and that teachers who offer more agentic feedback have higher expectations. We discuss implications for future research and application in classrooms.     

Preparing preservice teachers to make instructional decisions: An examination of data from the teacher work sample

The purpose of this American study was to examine student teachers’ ability to make instructional decisions as they engaged in teaching. We examined the narrative accounts provided by 150 student teachers within their teacher work samples (TWSs). Results indicated that most student teachers were able to implement some aspects of instructional decision making, such as noting a specific difficulty with student learning and making an on-the-spot adjustment in their instruction. However, other elements of instructional decision making were less likely to be implemented. For example, student teachers relied on a limited range of formative assessment strategies and instructional modifications, and very few provided a sound rationale for their choice of modification. These results suggest that novice teachers may benefit from more opportunities to reflect and critique upon authentic learning experiences as they complete their teacher preparation programs. Finally, the TWS appears to represent a viable method for examining the instructional decisions of student teachers.     

Exploring the relationship between certification sources,experience levels,and classroom management orientations of classroom teachers

Teachers continue to report that classroom management is one of their greatest challenges in the classroom. Classroom management involves teacher's efforts to oversee classroom activities such as learning, social interaction, and student behavior. In this study, we examined the relationship between sources of teachers’ certification (traditional or alternative), teachers’ experience levels (experienced or novice), and teachers’ classroom management orientations (interventionist, non-interventionist, or interactionalist). We discovered that neither source of certification nor experience level alone impacts a teachers’ classroom management orientation. However, teachers with traditional certification and many years of experience exert significantly less control over classroom activities and students’ behaviors than do their colleagues with other educational and experimental backgrounds. Potential causes and ramifications of these findings are discussed.     

Sustaining and retaining beginning special educators: It takes a village

The need to support and retain beginning teachers has become critical given: (1) the shortage of teachers in certain disciplines, and (2) the current emphasis on teacher qualifications and student achievement. In this study, five first year special education teachers in the southwestern section of the United States provided information on the persons and activities that supplied them with much needed and valued support. The results indicate that having a strong network of support and a variety of resources positively influenced these teachers’ ability to focus on student learning and on their intent to remain in their positions.     

Reflection on the teaching-learning process in the initial training of teachers. Characterization of the issues on which pre-service mathematics teachers reflect

Our aim was to highlight the issues of the reflections of pre-service mathematics teachers in their learning portfolio about the teaching-learning process taking place in a university teacher-training classroom. Category systems were designed which, together with the analysis system used, could provide a method helpful to teacher educators, teachers and to future research. The pre-service teachers showed difficulty in considering themselves as ‘authentic’ mathematics teachers. The study revealed that the preparation of a portfolio can help pre-service teachers learn more about themselves and provide educators insight into how to help pre-service mathematics teachers engage in the teaching-learning process.     

Teachers’ beliefs, instructional behaviors, and students’ engagement in learning from texts with instructional pictures

This study investigated the relations between teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and students’ self-reported engagement in learning from texts with instructional pictures. Participants were the biology, geography, and German teachers of 46 classes (Grades 5-8) and their students. Teachers’ instructional behaviors and students’ engagement in learning from texts with instructional pictures were assessed by means of student ratings. Teachers’ beliefs about using texts with instructional pictures in their teaching were assessed by a self-report questionnaire. Results showed that the more teachers believed that students should be taught clear strategies on how to learn from texts with instructional pictures the more engagement was reported by their students. A multilevel mediation model showed that the association between teachers’ beliefs and students’ self-reported engagement was mediated by teachers’ perceived instructional behavior.     

Teacher learning in collaborative curriculum design

The Interconnected Model of Professional Growth (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002) was used to identify processes of teacher learning during the collaborative design of curriculum materials in the context of curriculum innovation. Nine published studies from six different countries about teachers’ collaborative curriculum design were analyzed to identify the learning processes that collaborative curriculum design fosters. It was concluded that the Interconnected Model of Professional Growth, although initially developed to recognize learning processes in individual teachers, can also be used to identify learning processes that are fostered by collaborative curriculum design in teams of teachers.