Pre-service teachers undertaking classroom research: developing reflection and enquiry skills

This paper reports on the development of reflectiveness and research skills in eight pre-service teachers, through their participation in a funded research project to develop the handwriting of children with literacy problems. The project aimed to analyse the reflections of the trainee teachers participating in an authentic research study and to consider what this reflection on practice might offer to the education of teachers in the current UK training context. The context for the paper was a project which engaged pre-service trainee teachers in researching the proposition that automaticity in handwriting plays a role in facilitating composing processes and that the automaticity of early writers can be trained. Some outcomes of the project for pupils are reported. The focus in the present paper is, however, on the participating trainee teachers and the paper suggests that conducting research was a significant learning event for these pre-service teachers and that, through working together, they were able to analyse their development as researchers and their learning during the research process. At a time when the English government views teacher training as a method of school improvement and the effectiveness of training is measured through its immediate impact on pupil outcomes, this study offers an example of how shared research can offer positive learning outcomes for pupils, develop the reflective thinking of pre-service teachers through researching a real problem, and develop links across a range of school and university settings.     

职前教师反思能力培养探析

研究和实践表明,职前教师反思能力的培养是可行的。职前教师反思能力培养的内容包括掌握反思的专业知识,形成对反思的正确认识;掌握反思方法和技巧,培养反思能力;培养反思意识,养成反思习惯,为反思人格的形成奠定基础。培养职前教师反思能力有以下对策:一是调整专业人才培养方案,将反思能力作为培养目标的要求之一,二是采用课程渗透的培养模式,三是发挥教师教育者的示范作用并实施活动化的课程改革,四是重视反思环境的建设,组建学习共同体。     

教师的课程理解力及其生成

教师对课程改革的理解和创造性工作是课程改革能否在教学实践层面落实的关键,而教师的课程理解力正是制约教师课程理解的前提因素。尊重教师的实践性知识、提升教师的理论自觉、构建课程共同体等方面努力是促进教师课程理解力生成的可能路径。     

基于卓越教师培养的职前教育实践模式构建

卓越教师培养是当代我国教师教育的新主题,实践取向是我国教师教育改革的核心理念。教育实践是培养未来卓越教师的重要环节。教育实践具有主体性、情景性、智慧性、反思性、本体性等品性。教育实践以教育理论为前提,教育理论指导教育实践,教育实践与教育理论深度融合。构建职前教师教育实践模式,需要创新教育实践机制,建设教师教育协同创新体;完善教育实践内容,构建实践导向的教师教育课程体系;统筹教育实践时间,使教育实践贯穿大学教育的始终;拓展教育实践空间,建立多种类型的教育实践基地;创新实践教学方法,提升实践教学质量。     

Place-based education and pre-service teachers: a case study from India

Case studies of successful place-based education that involve international partnerships are rare. This article reports on an inclusive educational collaboration between pre-service teachers at an Australian university and primary and secondary school-aged children in a slum area of Delhi, India. Encouraged to undertake teaching that affirmed and extended the children's existing linguistic and cultural knowledge, the six teacher candidates collaboratively planned and implemented exemplary programmes geared to the children's interests and needs. This highly inclusive teaching and learning took various forms: a photographic project in the community, the collection of family portraits and stories, a dance and drama performance, and rich conversations on topics ranging from popular culture to politics. Using data drawn from observations of teaching, teacher candidate interviews and written reflections, and artefacts of student learning, this article analyses the processes and outcomes of this highly successful teaching. Essential to the success of this initiative was focused preparation that stressed cross-cultural awareness and sensitivity, a rejection of deficit notions about children and families living in slums, knowledge of Indian socio-political complexities, and a commitment to the building of equitable and ethical relationships with the Indian children and NGO staff. It is anticipated that this analysis will inform further attempts at place-based collaboration in the service of quality education.     

Introducing e-portfolios to pre-service teachers as tools for reflection and growth: lessons learnt

E-portfolios are being introduced into initial teacher education programmes internationally to help pre-service teachers build records of their learning journeys and develop into reflective practitioners; to allow them to assemble collections of evidence of their achievements against graduate standards, which can function as digital CVs; and to facilitate the seeding of personal learning networks that will support lifelong learning after graduation. Despite certain tensions between these aims, the potential benefits of e-portfolios make them an increasingly popular choice in teacher education. In this article, we discuss the introduction of Wi-Fi-based e-portfolios into a Master of Teaching programme at an Australian university. These served primarily as developmental e-portfolios, or personal learning environments (PLEs), and were designed to place particular emphasis on reflective practice. We describe how the e-portfolios were perceived and used by pre-service teachers in the first year of their implementation, and indicate the challenges and limitations encountered. Lessons learnt from the implementation are outlined and recommendations are proposed.     

A Conversation of Care: Unpacking and Engaging Pre-service Teacher Ideologies

Caring relationships are a core component in effective classrooms, and safe learning environments. As such, it is important for pre-service teachers to reflect on their own perceptions and experience regarding care and care within the classroom if they are to build upon that knowledge and grow as caring educators. In addition, teacher educators can learn more about the developing theories of care that exist within college classrooms, and utilize this knowledge in working with pre-service teachers to understand the power of care and relationships between students and teachers. The purpose of this article is to examine pre-service teacher perceptions of “care” and caring relationships within the classroom. How do pre-service teachers define “care”, and how do their experiences align with their personal beliefs? More importantly, how do these perspectives shape their teacher identity?     

Spaces of possibility in pre-service teacher education

Pre-service teacher education is a spatialised enterprise. It operates across a number of spaces that may or may not be linked ideologically and/or physically. These spaces can include daily practices, locations, infrastructure, relationships and representations of power and ideology. The interrelationships between and within these (sometimes competing) spaces for pre-service teachers will influence their identities as teachers and learners across time and space. Pre-service teachers are expected to make the connections between these often-contradictory spaces with little or no guidance on how to negotiate such complex relationships. These are difficult spaces, yet the slippages and gaps between these spaces offer generative possibilities. This paper explores these spaces of possibility for pre-service teacher education, and uses the spatial theories of Lefebvre and Foucault to argue that critical reflective practice can be used to create Soja’s ‘thirdspace’ for reconstructing future practice.     

The palimpsest layers of pre-service teachers’ literacy autobiographies

In this article, we examine three literacy autobiographies written by pre-service teachers. Narratives are seen as not just stories relating a set of facts, but rather a means by which individuals interpret their experience. Literacy autobiographies are a reflective and interpretive account of one’s development as a literate being. Using the tools of narrative analysis, we (a) examine these stories to understand the processes of literacy development through the experiences of learners’ storied lives; (b) seek to understand the impact that teachers’ literacy journeys have on their view of literacy and literacy education; and (c) explore what these literacy autobiographies reveal about the contributions of teacher reflection to pre-service teacher education. Our analysis points to the importance of personal relationships in the development of literacy, providing the context within which literacy practices give meaning to the literacy events active in the narrators’ lives. We also note a persistent view of traditional forms of literacy in contrast to pre-service teachers’ involvement in multiliteracies, and argue that this gap needs to be addressed in order to prepare teachers for the twenty-first century classroom. We also consider how reflection can be a more intentional aspect of pre-service teacher education to enhance pedagogy and learning.     

Student teachers’ patterns of reflection in the context of teaching practice

This study clarifies the basic structure of student teachers’ reflective thinking. It presents a constructivist account of teacher knowledge through a detailed analysis of various patterns of reflection in student teacher portfolios. We aim to gain a greater understanding of the process and outcomes of portfolio writing in the context of teaching practice. By closely analysing portfolio texts, we defined six main starting points for reflective episodes and several patterns under each of them. Also, the patterns of reflective episodes were analysed according to their deductive and inductive dimensions, together with their static and dynamic features. According to our results, it is possible that student teachers can reflect beyond solely practical issues on teaching, articulate multiple concerns about practice and elaborate them in an integrative manner as well as learn both from theory and from practice as a result of reflection for their future profession.     

Maximizing the Potential of Mentoring: A Framework for Pre-service Teacher Education

Within the professional placement component of pre-service teacher education, mentoring has become a strategy that is used during the practical application of learning to teach. In this paper, we examine mentoring in the pre-service teacher education context by proposing a theoretically based framework for mentoring in this context. Firstly, the nature of mentoring along with mentoring in the context of pre-service teacher education is explored. A mentoring framework that has been developed to enable pre-service teacher educators to maximize the potential use of mentoring during the professional placement component of a pre-service teacher education degree is then proposed.     

Moving beyond the reflectivity of post-lesson mentoring conferences in teacher education and creating learning/development opportunities for pre-service teachers

This longitudinal case study suggests ways to move beyond the reflective process usually associated with post-lesson mentoring conferences by describing the modalities likely to generate real learning/development opportunities. Based on cultural-historical activity theories (CHAT) and using methodologies from sociodiscursive interactionism, this study shows the joint construction of the meaning of teaching experience and proposes aids for developing the pre-service teacher’s power to act more effectively in the classroom. It provides a source for transforming the traditional mentoring methods, mediations and arrangements in teacher education. Proposals are made to further professionalise co-operating teachers at the new Graduate Schools of Teacher Education in France.     

实践共同体与职前教师实践性知识发展——基于教育实习的叙事研究

本文以“实践共同体”为分析框架,以叙事探究的方法,分析了两位职前教师在教育实习的过程中,与教师实践共同体的互动对其实践性知识发展的影响。并在此基础上,对如何构建良好的实践共同体做出了建议。     

Mothers who are student teachers: navigating their dual roles in pre-service teacher education

Many students in New Zealand are now of mature age, female, and mothers of dependent children (Allister et al. 2006). These students typically experience the challenge of sharing themselves between their children, partners, extended families and their fellow students, lecturers and studying. This research explored how a group of student-teachers who were also mothers experienced these dual roles and sought to document their beliefs, motivations, attitudes to these roles from the time they had entered teacher education. The following key themes emerged from the in-depth interviews with the women: strong motivation for wanting to become primary school teachers; the impact this decision had on the lives of their children, partners and extended families; the particular issues they faced as they tried to navigate the roles of mother and student-teacher; and the suggestions they had for continuing education and tertiary institutions to improve opportunities for other mothers wanting to study. This last theme is perhaps the most pertinent, as it offers implications for continuing education institutions wanting to attract and retain these students, who, as a group, represent a growing demographic trend in the student population.     

美、加、澳初任教师专业标准及其对我国教师教育的启示

初任教师的专业标准实际上就是新教师的入职门槛,对教师教育具有重要的导向作用。各国的初任教师专业标准既有共同性,都注重专业知识、专业实践、专业责任、持续学习诸方面,又各有特色:美国《InTASC示范核心教学标准》重视发展性、加拿大安大略省《专业实践基础》重视实践性、《澳大利亚初任教师教育项目认证:标准和程序》则具体而易操作。以上三国的初任教师专业标准,对中国教师专业标准的制定以及职前教师教育培养目标的完善有积极的启示作用。     

Supporting collaborative reflection in teacher education: a case study

The aim of this paper is to understand how certain educational supports promote preservice teachers’ learning to reflect in collaborative settings. To address this issue, we present a case study on collaborative reflection among 14 preservice teachers and one teacher educator over the course of five weekly consecutive sessions. The results suggest that collaborative reflection can be supported by organizing the process according to a twofold dynamic: from analysis to synthesis, and from open facilitation to directive facilitation. Six different types of assistance related to this dynamic, and provided by the teacher educator, are identified and qualitatively described: framing, oppositional voice, counterpoising alternatives, asking for the dilemma, problematizing, and modelling.     

Inclusive education in pre-schools: predictors of pre-service teacher attitudes in Australia

Teachers’ attitudes have been identified as being vital to the success of inclusive education (IE). With pre-school student populations becoming increasingly diverse, and many children experiencing this as their first involvement in formal education, the attitudes towards IE of pre-school teachers are more important than ever. This study investigated pre-service pre-school teachers in an attempt to identify the factors that contribute to the formation of positive attitudes towards IE in this population. Participants were 139 undergraduate and postgraduate early education students studying at a metropolitan university in Australia. Results indicated that participants generally held positive attitudes towards IE, despite having concerns regarding their ability to implement the construct. Attitudes did not significantly vary through years of study of the undergraduate degree; however, postgraduate participants reported significantly lower attitudes. While those who completed a tertiary-level unit on IE were significantly more likely to display positive attitudes, neither personal experience with persons with special needs nor practical classroom experience significantly influenced attitudes. Experience, however, was found to significantly increase perceptions of self-efficacy. Findings imply the presence of unique factors associated with the attitudes of pre-service pre-school teachers. Implications for the structure of pre-service pre-school education programmes and directions for future research are discussed.     

Service-Learning and Emergent Communities of Practice: A Teacher Education Case Study

This study investigates the unexpected emergence of a community of practice in a middle level mathematics and science methods course. The authors describe how preservice teacher participation in a collaborative, project-based service-learning experience resulted in the formation of a community of practice characterized by teamwork, meaningful practice, and shared resources. The article concludes with a twofold argument demonstrating how collaborative, project-based service-learning experiences potentially contribute to preservice teacher learning via the positive outcomes that emerge from participation in a community of practice, while also reinforcing preservice teacher commitment to the constructive pedagogy of service-learning.     

职前教师的专业身份建构——基于西方关于职前教师专业身份的实证研究的报告

目前教育研究领域的一个重要转变是教师的专业身份开始成为教育研究的重要议题和分析工具。然而过往的研究多聚焦于在职教师,未能对教师教育情境中的专业身份的萌芽和塑形过程进行充分探讨。本文以职前教师专业身份为主题,对西方近年来相关实证研究进行系统检索和分析,具体从职前教师专业身份的构成、特征、发展过程及其影响因素等四个方面对研究发现进行分析和归纳,为学界探索教师教育如何支持和促进职前教师专业身份发展提供思路。     

Reflections on the Manner in Teaching Project

In reflections on the Manner in Teaching Project, I focus on four themes: why teaching is an intellectual and moral endeavour; the significance of the school context for understanding the moral dimensions of teaching; the uses and limitations of moral theory in research on teaching; and the centrality of the person in the role of teacher. The 'Manner in Teaching Project' sheds useful light on these themes, including how to examine them systematically.