A transpersonal model for teacher reflectivity

The past decade has witnessed a dramatic increase in scholarship relating to teacher reflectivity. Typically, 'reflectivity', in this context, refers to teachers' critical examination of the political and biographical factors that have led them to teaching and have been instrumental in defining their internal models of what defines good practice. However, the literature on reflective teacher education rarely delves into what may be called 'spiritual reflectivity' - or the exploration of deeper ontological commitments and constructs regarding teaching. In this essay, I discuss how, as a teacher educator, I have drawn from a Buddhist developmental model to deepen my spiritual reflectivity as a teacher.     

The teacher as an archetype of spirit

Many images of the teacher in the current literature on teaching and teacher reflectivity can be seen as aspects of the Jungian image of the teacher as an archetype of spirit. These images--the teacher as philosopher, prophet, Zen master, and priest--correspond to what I call dialogical, civic, ontological and incarnational spirituality, respectively. I examine the possibilities and perils inherent in each of these visions of teaching. I also show how viewing teaching in archetypal terms provides a way of including the spiritual domain in both the theory and practice of teaching. The pedagogical, biographical and political dimensions of a teacher's calling and practice are important. However, examining the spiritual dimension of teaching can add to and interact with these other dimensions in ways that will enrich an understanding of what it means to be a teacher.     

In Search of Ways to Improve Practicum Learning: Self-Study of the Teacher Educator/Researcher as Responsive Listener

Abstract

Teacher education programs that appear to be more successful work to thread practicum experiences and on-campus courses with an eye to achieving overall program coherence. As part of a funded research project centred on understanding how teacher candidates perceive quality in their practicum experiences and, by extension, in their professional learning, focus groups were recruited for a series of discussions that extended over an academic year. I undertook this self-study in an attempt to examine the conditions for learning that made these focus groups so successful by virtue of participants’ commitment, engagement, focus and drive to become the best teachers they could possibly be. Self-study was an avenue for me to develop insights into my practice and to identify ways to move forward to become a more effective teacher educator who could model and scaffold responsive listening and relationship-building for future teachers. The two questions driving this self-study were “How does adopting and promoting a listening perspective improve participants learning?” And “What is transformative about responsive listening?” Identifying and challenging my assumptions were initial steps in understanding what a listening perspective entails, the importance of authorizing student perspectives and developing their pedagogical voices. Responsive listening became a means to interrogate my practice, to reframe my experience, to work in and from action, and to become more comfortable with the uncertain spaces where deep learning can occur – for myself and for those whom I teach. In so doing, I came closer to appreciating the possibilities for transformation.     

(Re)thinking preservice teachers’ field experiences through a spatial lens

ABSTRACT

Space is not separable from the learning and teaching that take place in and through teacher education programs. In this paper, we attempt to illustrate how the use of a spatial lens in preservice teachers field placement can provide them with opportunities to raise questions and understand more about the relationships between self, the discursive construction of others, and taken-for-granted notions of learning and teaching. In helping preservice teachers’ critical reflections upon their spatial experience at their field sites, we specifically focus on “mapping” space as our approach to developing a critical embodied pedagogy. In particular, we highlight one White female preservice teacher’s spatial experience in a homeless shelter. We discuss the implications of developing pedagogical tools from the spatial perspective for early childhood teacher education programs.     

Distinct in beliefs/united in concerns: Listening to strongly DAP and strongly traditional k‐primary teachers

Abstract

Twelve early childhood teachers in kindergarten/primary grades who hold opposing philosophical beliefs about developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) were interviewed about their perceived barriers to effective practice. Specifically, they were asked to discuss work‐related “things that keep them from being the best teacher they can be.” All teachers selected scored as highly efficacious about education and themselves as teachers and had low occupational stress scores. Half strongly endorsed and engaged in behaviors closely aligned with DAP and half were highly traditional. Interesting differences in terms of the relative influence of preservice education and acceptance of inclusive practices were found across the two groups of teachers, but they united in concern for standardized testing as a barrier to effective practice. Listening to these teachers can and should inform those of us engaged in pre‐ and in‐service education and policy formation and point us in future directions for research into teacher differences. © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.     

A study of practical‐moral knowledge in science teaching: Case studies in physical science classrooms

This study further extends a conceptual framework that explores science teaching as a “practice” not reducible to the application of formal knowledge, but as informed by teachers' practical‐moral knowledge. A hermeneutic model was developed to examine practical‐moral knowledge indirectly by investigating teachers' commitments, interpretations, actions, and dialectic interactions between them. The study also aimed to analyze teachers' actions in terms of their interpretations and commitments as they realize “internal goods” of their practice. Ethnographic case studies of three science teachers were conducted through classroom observation, in‐depth interviews and dialogues, and artifact analysis. A commitment of preparing students for national exams was common to the three teachers but was manifested differently in classroom practices. This commitment originated from interpretations about the duty of “good” teachers not letting students and schools down. Other emergent commitments were commitments: to conceptual understandings, to “challenge” learners, and to social modeling. We present each with associated interpretations and actions. The concepts of practical wisdom (phronesis) and gap closing are used to characterize teachers' practical knowledge and its development respectively. Implications for teacher education are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 929–951, 2010     

Pedagogical approaches to exploring theory–practice relationships in an outdoor education teacher education programme

Understanding theory–practice relationships in pre-service teacher education is an enduring concern for many teacher educators. Drawing on data from an investigation into the theory–practice nexus in an outdoor education teacher education programme, this article examines pedagogical approaches to exploring theory and practice with pre-service teachers. The investigation, a qualitative case study, examined the views of the programme’s teacher educators (authors) using an analytical lens informed by two similar theoretical models.

The article focuses on elements that were found to be central to pedagogical approaches within the programme: self-awareness, experience, reflexivity, and a “community of learners.” While the approaches represent a departure from “theory application” and “theory–practice integration” approaches, and a move towards praxis development, the study highlighted challenges and issues including the need for teacher educators to scrutinise theory–practice relationships in their own teaching and discourse. Implications and possibilities for future practice are considered.     

Teachers’ beliefs and educational reform in India: from ‘learner-centred’ to ‘learning-centred’ education

ABSTRACT

The challenges faced by learner-centred education (LCE) reforms in developing countries may be partly explained by their failure to engage with the culturally shaped beliefs in which teachers’ practice is rooted. Drawing from a mixed methods study of 60 government primary teachers in India, this research points to cultural tensions faced by LCE reforms in India. Although India’s own Constitutional values and pedagogical reform movements support LCE’s ideals, many teachers’ beliefs are shaped by dominant ideologies that contradict LCE’s assumptions. Imposing a predetermined, ‘Western’ model of LCE practice will inevitably face challenges if not supported by teachers’ underlying beliefs – and in fact contradicts LCE’s own ideals of empowering teacher agency. Instead, the paper argues for pedagogical reforms to focus less on a predesigned model of learner-centred practice and more on its underlying beliefs: by seeking to instil culturally relevant learning-centred beliefs, and involving teachers themselves in determining what learning-centred practice might look like within their context.     

Ecological influences on teachers’ well-being and “fitness”

The complex and ever-changing nature of teachers’ work challenges their well-being. Teacher well-being and “fitness” includes versatility, mental strength, and commitment to promote effective teaching and learning. In framing this notion, we seek to understand the ecological influences impacting on teacher well-being and “fitness” in the twenty-first century. Drawing on the ecological theory of Bronfenbrenner, this interpretive qualitative study explored the perceptions of pre-service teachers in relation to their teacher well-being and “fitness.” Data were collected from a teacher well-being survey completed by 120 final-year undergraduate pre-service teachers. The survey shed light on themes at four levels: the microsystem (individual and collective capacities); mesosystem (interrelationships between contexts); exosystem (organisational); and macrosystem (societal and legislative influences), compounded by the influence of time at the chronosystem level. These ecological influences were perceived to impact on teacher well-being and ability to be “fit” for sustained performance.     

“I Don't Feel Comfortable Reading Those Books in my Classroom”: A Qualitative Study of the Impact of Cultural and Political Vignettes in a Teacher Education Course

This article chronicles a qualitative study of the impact of a pedagogical practice called cultural and political vignettes (CPVs) on graduate students enrolled in a teacher education course. CPVs are cultural and political “situations” that are presented to teachers so that they can practice the decision-making skills that they will use in the diverse classrooms of New York City public schools. This study investigates whether engaging in CPV activities helped participants to feel more prepared to address culturally and politically sensitive issues in the elementary schools at which they are employed. The preliminary findings of this qualitative study are promising. They indicate that responding to, creating, exchanging, and engaging in situated performances of CPVs provided participants with occasions to practice their written, verbal, and nonverbal communication skills in a supportive classroom environment where they could discuss cultural and political issues that are rarely addressed in teacher preparation courses.     

Preparing early childhood teachers for real-time and postdisaster classrooms: invisible capes and specialized planning

ABSTRACT

This essay addresses two types of disasters that can affect early childhood classrooms, which deserve more attention during teacher preparation. The first includes such natural phenomena as earthquakes and hurricanes, as well man-made events, such as fires and, incredibly, school shootings. They are almost always unexpected and happen in real time. Without question, they requires teachers’ immediate, direct, and complete commitment. The second type is a disaster that has passed, but requires a focused and specialized curriculum when children return to school. The critically important role of early childhood teachers as “first responders” or “helpers” during and after disaster is discussed, along with best practices related to a “pedagogy of meaning” during these times.     

Reframing primary curriculum through concepts of place

Australian curricula name “sustainability” as a key priority area with implications for preparing pre-service teachers. In the research that generated this paper, we asked: How can framing teaching through space and place inform pre-service teachers’ pedagogical thinking and practice? In new third year Bachelor of Education (primary) subject Understanding Space and Place, Australian teacher education students shared online responses to focus questions and readings framing education through place, designed and taught a unit of study “beyond the classroom” to children in their professional placements and reflected on changes in their theoretical, philosophical, and curriculum goals. Data from these forum posts were analysed through Somerville’s three “enabling place pedagogy” categories of embodiment, storylines, and cultural contact zones. Many students came to re-imagine their teaching roles and understand how a place pedagogy framework can operate to expand the possibilities of teaching and learning sustainability through creative and embodied place-making experiences in local places.     

The Future Curriculum and Information Technology

Abstract

Programmes for teacher training should train (aspiring) teachers to be able to make use of information and communications technology as mindtools. Mindtools are not pieces of specialised software that‘teach’ a subject, but computer programs and applications that facilitate meaningful professional thinking and working. Teachers can use these programs and applications to engage their students in critical thinking and to help further their own professional development. In the latter case mindtools can be applied for cooperation (between teachers, teacher educators and student teachers) and collaboration (with other teachers, experts, designers, etc. on pedagogical projects). In this article we focus on electronic networking technologies (conversation tools) as mindtools in communities of practice for teacher professional development. Examples of good practice from teacher training institutions in Europe illustrate how to prepare (aspirant) teachers for working with mindtools that enhance teacher professional development     

Teacher collaboration in curriculum design teams: effects,mechanisms, and conditions

ABSTRACT

Collaborative design positively affects both professional development and the implementation of curriculum change, because teachers develop competencies and practice and develop ownership of the change. The current study was aimed to explore what empirical evidence is available about processes that take place when teachers co-design and how these contribute to professional development and curriculum change. Evidence from 14 PhD studies was collected to study their impact on teacher learning and curriculum change, by analysing effects, mechanisms, and conditions. Results showed that effects of curriculum design teams, in terms of learning outcomes for teachers in areas such as (pedagogical) content knowledge and design knowledge and skills, became manifest in the outcomes of the curriculum design process, and in the appreciation by the stakeholders. We concluded that professional development, through collaborative design in teams, which is specific and linked to the curriculum, influences teachers’ knowledge and practice and impacts implementation of curriculum change.     

Preservice teachers’ expressed awarenesses: emerging threads of retro-spection of learning and pro-spection of teaching

In this paper, we report an enquiry into elementary preservice teachers’ learning, as they engage in doing mathematics for themselves. As a group of researchers working in elementary Initial Teacher Education in English universities, we co-planned and taught sessions on growing pattern generalisation. Following the sessions, interviews of fifteen preservice teachers at two universities focused on their expressed awareness of their approach to the mathematical activity. Preservice teachers’ prospective planning and post-teaching evaluations of similar activities in their classrooms were also examined. We draw on aspects of enactivism and the notion of reflective “spection” in the context of teacher learning, tracing threads between preservice teachers’ retro-spection of learning and pro-spection of teaching. Our analysis indicates that increasing sensitivity to their own embodied processes of generalisation offers opportunities for novice teachers to respond deliberately, rather than to react impulsively, to different pedagogical possibilities. The paper contributes a new dimension to the discussion about the focus of novice elementary school teachers’ retrospective reflection by examining how deliberate retrospective analysis of doing mathematics, and not only of teaching actions, can develop awarenesses that underlie the growth of expertise in mathematics teaching. We argue that engaging preservice teachers in mathematics to support deliberate retrospective analysis of their mathematics learning and prospective consideration of the implications for teaching can enable more critical pedagogical choices.

     

Trained for isolation: The impact of departmental cultures on student teachers' views and practices of collaboration

Today, isolated practice is regarded by most educators, administrators and policymakers as an inadequate way of performing teachers' work. Most teachers and teacher educators embrace the current dominant discourse on the virtues of teacher collaboration, but these beliefs do not always materialize in the way programs of initial teacher education are organized and in the way student teachers experience their practice training. This paper examines this contradiction by analyzing the network structure and contents of teachers' professional interactions with student teachers and among themselves in two secondary-school English departments. The data show that despite the formal arrangements and the discourses favoring collaborative practice, the student teachers within the two departments were socialized into professional cultures that framed their views of themselves and of teaching in essentially isolated ways. The paper discusses implications of these results for studies of collaborative cultures in teaching and for the training of beginning teachers.     

Social justice teacher educators: what kind of knowing is needed?

ABSTRACT

What do teacher educators need to know and do in order to move from espousing to enacting social justice in their own teacher educating practice? This article addresses this question by examining scholarship that focuses on the preparation of preservice teachers for social justice. Using five knowledge domains for teaching (personal, contextual, pedagogical, sociological, social) as an analytic lens, the authors examined teacher education literature published between 2010 and 2016 in three international journals from Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. The study reveals that teacher educators in different contexts seem to highlight personal and contextual knowledge in their preparation of equity-minded preservice teachers and provides insight into how they conceptualise educational equity and social justice. The study illuminates what is likely in place in initial teacher education programmes, and what may be needed or missing if teacher educators are to prepare teachers for today’s diverse classrooms.

Abbreviation ITE: Initial Teacher Education ITE     

A Community of Learners: promoting teachers to become learners

Abstract

This paper describes how the use of video helped us create dialogic intersub‐jective educational spaces in which transformative learning can take place. Focusing simultaneously on two learning contexts: action research and teacher‐student conferencing, it shows how the development of a dialogical space between researchers and teachers in action research enhances the development of such a space between teachers and students in classrooms. In addition, it describes how the participatory research relationship helped illuminate both for teachers and for students what they implicitly know is important to change, as they become aware of new possibilities for pedagogical improvement. Most of all, dialogic video viewing helped them step outside of themselves in order to see each other and return to look at themselves as others’.

     

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.