Becoming interested during teacher education

In this article we examine first-year student teachers’ possibilities to become interested in professional issues in teacher education. We study the phenomenon of becoming interested among first-year student teachers via three different kinds of data. We analysed our data through John Dewey’s definition of interest, where a person has an interest if s/he is actively keen on some object that has personal meaning for her/him. According to our data, student teachers adopt an object of interest that teacher educators provide. Learners found it difficult to find the objects of interests by themselves, and it was exceptional for them to find personal meaning and an active state of interest. This is problematic because studying may be performance-oriented without the conditions of interest conceptualised by Dewey. Through our study we also discuss a theoretical approach which would help understand the mechanism behind becoming interested.     

Becoming critical: the failure to connect

This article is a retrospective critique of Becoming Critical by Carr & Kemmis. Into it are woven responses to other retrospective reviews of the book by Susan Groundwater–Smith, Susan Noffke, and Carr & Kemmis themselves. The basic argument is that Becoming Critical was overdependent on the work of Jurgen Habermas and was therefore vulnerable to the same critique. The author argues that just as Habermas did not resolve the dualism between theory and practice, nor did Becoming Critical. Like the work of Habermas, its theory of rationality is very weak in creating a link between ideology critique and the organisation of strategic action. This explains why, in spite of its attractiveness to many education academics, it was unable to support critical action research at an operational level. The article refutes suggestions that the problem with the book was that times have changed. It argues that Becoming Critical anticipated these changes, but was conceptually unable to address them. This was largely because it differentiated a hierarchy of distinct types of action research grounded in quasi–transcendental categories of knowledge constitutive interests. In the course of the critique of Becoming Critical the author proposes a more philosophically pragmatic account of action research that integrates the ‘critical’ as an intrinsic dimension of practical discourse.     

Becoming individual in education and cyberspace

This article traces key competences that are necessary to master as teachers are increasingly obliged to orchestrate learning as initiation into individual autonomy. The context is one that acknowledges that learning increasingly dissipates out into cyberspace.Inspired by Gilles Deleuze and Michel Foucault, the article explores preconditions for professionalizing the teacher using project work as a generalized case. Project work claims to anticipate initiation into autonomy and reflects new power relations between professionals and clients as well. It is assumed that project work illustrates the transition from traditional school forms to a more individualized society where Information and Communication Technologies media (ICT) are increasingly integrated in learning. It is likewise assumed that the procedures and rules governing project work—as a way of shaping the image of oneself as an individual—correspond in ambivalent ways to competences that one must master in order to navigate as an up‐to‐date employee, citizen, and parent, and so on.     

Emotion theory in education research practice: an interdisciplinary critical literature review

Educational technology research and development - In this critical literature review, we seek to understand why multidimensional, psychological measures of human emotion that have been popular in...     

Mathematical education versus critical education

This paper concentrates upon the relationship between mathematical education (ME) and critical education (CE) connected with the Frankfurt School and Critical Theory. To make the discussion as precise as possible a distinction is made between three alternatives in ME: Structuralism, pragmatism, and process-orientation. These alternatives are related to the key terms of CE in order to show the extent to which ME and CE contradict each other. The conclusion is that there does not exist any integration — nor even any close relationship-between ME and CE. Finally, this result is discussed in the light of the following two theses:

1. It is necessary to increase the interaction between ME and CE, if ME is not to degenerate into one of the most important ways of socializing students into the technological society and at the same time destroying the possibilities for developing a critical attitude towards precisely this technological society.
2. It is important for CE to interact with subjects from the technical sciences, and among these ME, if CE is not to be taken over by the technological development and fade away into an unimportant and uncritical educational theory.

     

Validity in mixed methods research in education: the application of Habermas' critical theory

Mixed methods approach has developed into the third methodological movement in educational research. Validity in mixed methods research as an important issue, however, has not been examined as extensively as that of quantitative and qualitative research. Additionally, the previous discussions of validity in mixed methods research focus on research design and procedure, rather than validity per se. This paper presents another perspective by using philosophical and methodological insights generated from Habermas’ critical theory, especially his Theory of Communicative Action and validity claims. Theoretical assumptions and how they are consistent with principles of mixed methods research are introduced. Three types of validity claims are explained with an example and how they are applied to understanding validity in mixed methods research is further discussed. This paper concludes with implications for educational research and future directions.     

Becoming a literacy teacher: approximations in critical literacy teaching

The new literacy studies (NLS) is a tradition of research that includes ethnographic work on literacy that has many applications for classroom teachers. The NLS include explorations of local literacies and critical literacy as well as the notion of literacy itself. When teachers draw on the NLS, students are able to draw on their practices in critical and transformative ways. However, NLS perspectives have not been used to examine how teachers are prepared in pre‐service programs and the ways critical literacy practices develop. This paper examines how two pre‐service teachers learn to take up definitions of local literacies in their work with students from racially, linguistically, and culturally diverse backgrounds in practicum settings. They use approximations in literacy teaching to design practices with students, demonstrating the process of becoming a teacher of literacy. I conclude with recommendations for teacher educators who are interested in supporting such approximations.     

Becoming siap mental: education for transnational labour migration

Disparate groups with dissimilar agendas, ranging from the Indonesian government to grassroots education collectives, agree that training and education play an important role in preparing women for safe labour migration. However, perspectives on precisely how this training and education should be structured and what information should be included vary widely. This article, which is based on 10 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Indonesia, explores the range of perspectives on what it means to become educated about migration for domestic labour. Particular attention is given to migrant women’s emphasis on the idea of being siap mental (mentally ready) for migration. This research sheds light on the challenges to developing education programmes for migrant women workers and contributes empirical evidence on the role that nonformal or out-of-school education can play in shaping values and social norms.     

On the utility of Asian critical (AsianCrit) theory in the field of education

Abstract

Despite the powerful influence of race and racism on the experiences and outcomes of Asian Americans in US education, coherent conceptual frameworks specifically focused on delineating how White supremacy shapes the lives of this population are difficult to find. The AsianCrit framework, grounded in Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the experiences and voices of Asian Americans, can begin filling this gap. In this article, we review an AsianCrit framework and examine Asian American issues in education through seven AsianCrit tenets to demonstrate their utility in the analysis of and advocacy for Asian Americans in U.S. education. We end by discussing implications of how AsianCrit can provide a framework to guide future research, policy and practice, as well as a foundation for discourse around the racialized experiences of Asians Americans and other racially marginalized groups in education.     

Utopian realism and a new politics of education: developing a critical theory without guarantees

This paper is about utopia and utopianism and the relevance of both to thinking analytically and practically about the form and content of education policy. Specifically, it commends a particular application of the utopian imagination - utopian realism - which entails envisaging possible futures in terms of detectable trends in actual social development. It also assesses the merits for education policy of a recent attempt to translate this kind of utopianism into a mode of practical politics known as the ‘Third Way’.     

Introducing veteran critical theory

Research on student veterans is in an infant state. As veterans continue to enroll in institutions of higher education, researchers must explore new ways of knowing student veterans. It is not enough to only describe and model this growing demographic, researchers must also have a tool for criticism and question. The next in an important tradition of emancipatory paradigms, this article suggests a critical theory built on current critical conversations but adapted for the unique characteristics of the student veteran. The article defines the need for a critical theory (Veteran Critical Theory), explains 11 tenets for this new theory, and discusses how these tenets could be used by administrators, faculty, student affairs professionals, and students in the higher education community.     

教育理论何以称为理论——兼论教育理论与实践的关系

教育理论不是"一",而是"多".因此,谈论教育理论与实践的关系就要说明是在何种教育理论的意义上来说的.否则,谈论教育理论与实践的关系不仅会造成歧见纷纭、相互攻讦,而且会带来认识上的困惑、迷惘,使本已迷惘的教育理论更加扑朔迷离.教育理论的建构应该"是其所是",使教育理论百花齐放,而不是一枝独秀.     

Becoming a teacher of primary science: integrating theory and practice

This paper reports a study of how a group of six students learnt to teach primary science as they went through a 4-year teacher education degree. The study shows that from early in the course students had a clear view of how they wanted to teach science and had a range of concerns about their teaching. Their views gradually became refined and actionable in the classroom as they went through the course. A variety of data types was used to interpret their learning. A significant number of their decisions were not recorded in their written work so were only available in discussion or action. All students were able to deal with the complexity of their classrooms in their oral discussions, but fewer could do this in writing. The students drew on a range of programme material to support their decisions, and these are used to show the interaction between their work in school and in college.     

Becoming a mathematics teacher: The use of personal construct theory

Since 1981 a study of the way in which prospective mathematics teachers see mathematics teaching has been carried out using procedures derived from Personal Construct Theory (PCT). It was found that PCT procedures were very useful. They gave student teacher another way of analysing and reflecting upon mathematics teaching as he or she changed from university oriented mathematics graduate to school oriented mathematics teacher during the one year teacher education programme. Another conclusion was the PCT procedures could be used to investigate practitioners maxims: to explore the practical basis of mathematics pedagogy. This paper discusses how PCT procedures may be used to assist mathematics teacher and others to study teacher thinking.     

A theory of education

The aim of this paper is to offer a timely theory of education that abstains as much as feasibly possible from ‘taking sides’ in current ideological disputes. It begins by presenting a basic definition demarcating the concept of ‘education’ from other processes of human learning and formation, yet in a way that allows circumventing various features that have been the source of literary debates. The paper then presents education’s bi-dimensional structure and connects this structure to Schwartz’s theory of universal values. To further explicate the merits of the theory, the paper presents four generic types of education and connects each of them to Schwartz’s value scale (SVS). It is argued that the conception of education offered may serve as a commonly shared framework for educational theorists and practitioners alike to think about and research education.     

教育理论如何表达教育实践

教育实践是教育理论的生命之源,同时也需要教育理论的滋养。但教育理论与教育实践之间却出现了深深的裂痕乃至鸿沟,由此产生了教育理论如何表达实践的问题。教育理论要想恰当、贴切地表达实践,需要从观念叙述、实体叙述、宏大叙述及单一本质叙述转变为现实叙述、关系叙述、事件叙述及多元本质叙述。这样,教育理论才能更好地表达教育实践。