Arriving on a fast track: Perceptions of teachers from an alternative licensing program about their first four years in the classroom

Abstract

In a 4‐year study of new teachers who completed the MINT (Massachusetts Institute for New Teachers) alternative teacher‐licensing program, we found that this particular fast‐track model recruited a group of highly committed new teachers. However, these new teachers expressed dissatisfaction with the effectiveness of their teacher education program. Many of the teachers tended to use traditional teaching methods. Some regarded their professional development and mentoring experiences as insufficient. Some believed their potential for school leadership was not being fully realized. A similar set of perceptions were reported by a group of new teachers who had completed college‐based teacher preparation programs, although the college program‐prepared teachers tended to give higher ratings to their teacher preparation program and to use a wider variety of teaching strategies in the classroom.     

Teachers’ differing perceptions of classroom disturbances

Background: Efficient classroom management and adequate discipline are major issues for teachers in schools worldwide, with the guiding of students’ behaviour as one of the primary challenges. Teachers’ knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviour play central roles in the appropriate handling of classroom disturbances.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how practising teachers perceive classroom disturbances and to compare their views to those presented in the literature. By clarifying typical perceptions, this research is intended to give individual teachers tools to develop their insights by comparing their perceptions with those of other teachers.

Sample: The empirical material was collected by interviewing 14 home economics teachers in Finland. Home economics is a school subject that involves individual and group work as well as theoretical and practical work. In Finland, home economics is a compulsory subject for students aged 13–15 years, which are challenging ages in regard to classroom management.

Design and methods: The empirical research was completed via deep, qualitative theme interviews for data gathering and phenomenography for analysis.

Results: The analysis identified five dimensions in which interviewees expressed varying views of classroom disturbances: who or what disturbs, whose work is disturbed, why students disturb, who is responsible and how to prevent classroom disturbances. Based on the various perceptions within each dimension, the main perceptions for understanding classroom disturbances can be condensed into four categories: unavoidable nuisance, deficient resources, the matter of atmosphere and educational task.

Conclusions: Teachers who wish to develop their classroom management skills may use these findings as tools to compare their perceptions with those of other teachers. This knowledge may also be useful for developing teacher education.     

The classroom as laboratory: An exploration of teacher research

The field of education, including gifted education, suffers from a communication breakdown between classroom‐based practitioners and university‐based researchers. Research results often do not make it to the classroom where they can improve practice. This article reviews the literature regarding teacher‐performed research and argues that equipping teachers to perform their own research either individually or in collaboration with university researchers is one way to enrich teachers’ knowledge and improve classroom practice.     

Pro Bono Publico

Abstract

The dynamics of classroom authority are not always simple. Students come to school to increase their knowledge, and teachers presumably know more about their subject than do their students, but learning is not exclusively a one-way downward flow of information. Teachers learn from students and students often learn best when teachers do not exert their authority, at least in the conventional sense. Instructors who provoke thinking encourage students to encounter their own moments of illumination. This article presents the idea that learning through active resistance makes the information that students discover more valuable to them. Examples from the author's own classroom experiences are provided.     

Alternative Assessment Portfolios for Students with Intellectual Disabilities: A Case Study

Abstract

Twenty‐eight classroom teachers identified students in their rooms who were low achievers, at‐risk learners; low achievers, not at risk; average achievers; and special education students. We videotaped these students during reading lessons conducted by their teachers. Using a stimulated recall procedure, we interviewed teachers and asked them to report their thought processes during instruction, especially those that pertained to the target children. We found that teachers reported significantly more negative thoughts about at‐risk learners' than about average achievers' attending behavior and ability‐performance. Furthermore, at‐risk learners received a greater number of comments focused on the need to monitor their performance. Special education students received significantly more positive and negative comments about attending than did average achievers. In addition, they received more miscellaneous positive comments than did low, not at‐risk, and average achievers. Finally, teachers reported making more classroom modifications for this group than for average students. Implications for prereferral classroom interventions are discussed.     

Classroom Transactions of Student‐Teachers of Science

Summaries

English

The report describes a study of the teaching behaviour of student‐teachers of science disciplines during the one‐term teaching practice of the English ‘Post‐Graduate Certificate in Education’ course, using the Science Teaching Observation Schedule by Eggleston et al.

The results suggest that in several behavioural dimensions, students and teachers achieve a close match. These dimensions, it is suggested, could represent the ‘stable’ elements in the students’ perception of science teacher behaviour learnt during their time as pupils, or they might represent ‘safe’ transactions which do not involve students extensively in problems of classroom management and control.

For other behaviour categories, it was found that students tended to behave less like experienced teachers as the training practice proceeded, but this was to some extent determined by the subject taught. Physics student‐teachers substantially maintained their similarity to experienced teachers, whilst chemistry and biology students drifted away. The nature of these drifts is discussed.     

‘It’s not about punitive’: exploring how early-career teachers in high-poverty schools respond to critical incidents

ABSTRACT

This article explores how early-career teachers working in high-poverty schools in Australia account for their decision-making during critical classroom incidents. Classroom management solutions are problematized by investigating how two teachers take up particular positions, make decisions, and enact what they believe to be ‘quality teaching’ in context. Through a combination of interviews and observations of teachers ‘in situ’, we examine what these teachers do, why they do it, what informs their decisions, and how they reflect on their actions. The complexity of teachers’ work in schools located in high-poverty areas is highlighted. We argue that both early-career teachers prefer to position themselves within ‘pastoral’, in contrast to ‘disciplinarian’, discourses, as part of constituting the school as a site of possibility and teachers who advocate for youth growing up in poverty.     

New teachers learning in rural and regional Australia

This paper reports on a longitudinal ethnographic study of beginning primary school teachers in rural and regional Victoria, Australia. The study uses a conceptual framework of place and workplace learning to ask: How do new teachers learn to do their work and how do they learn about the places and communities in which they begin teaching? In this paper, we focus on data from the first year of the three-year longitudinal study, using a place-based survey and ethnographic interviews. We found that the space of the classroom was the dominant site of learning to become a teacher for the new teachers in this study. This learning was understood through the discourse of classroom management. Analysis of these storylines reveals the ways in which the community and classroom are not separate but intertwined, and the process of learning about their communities began through the children in their classes.     

Distinctions Without a Difference? Preschool Curricula and Children’s Development

Abstract

Public preschool programs require the use of a research-based, whole-child curriculum, yet limited research examines whether curricula influence classroom experiences and children’s development. We use five samples of preschool children to examine differences in classroom processes and children’s school readiness by classroom curricular status (curriculum/no curriculum), and across classrooms using different curricular packages. When a teacher reports using a curriculum, their classroom processes are indistinguishable from classrooms where teachers report using no curriculum. Some differences in classroom activities emerged across classrooms using different curricula; however, substantial variability exists across classrooms using the same curriculum. Head Start program fixed effects models and meta-analytic regressions reveal few associations between curricula and children's skills. Findings question whether preschool curricular policy benefit child development.     

Ideational code‐switching: Walking the talk about supporting student creativity in the classroom

This article considers how teachers can begin to reconcile their value for creativity with a pedagogy that supports it. First, teachers’ experiences of finding themselves caught in the middle between valuing creativity and helping students conform to the constraints of the classroom are considered. Next, the role that constraints play in creativity is discussed. Finally, a new way of thinking about creative expression, called ideational code‐switching, is proposed. Ideational code‐switching represents the ability to move between intrapersonal creative interpretations and interpersonal creative expression. The article closes with suggestions for how teachers can support students’ ideational code‐switching and thereby encourage creative expression in their classroom.     

Australian Experiences with the Effective Classroom Integration of Information Technology: implications for teacher education

ABSTRACT

In 1992 an Australia‐wide survey was undertaken to determine the most appropriate and effective ways by which classroom teachers have acquired the necessary skills and knowledge to use technology in their curriculum. The survey examined current and changing practice and identified factors which the teachers considered promoted or hindered the effective integration of computer technology. Many teachers felt that their teacher training (pre‐service and in‐service) did not prepare them to effectively integrate computers into their teaching, that it did not include enough time for them to become comfortable with the software, nor did it include support to help them troubleshoot during the early implementation stages. This paper discusses these aspects of the survey results and the implications for teacher education in Australia.     

LEARNING LESSONS ABOUT DIVERSITY: FIELD EXPERIENCES IN THE PREPARATION OF TEACHERS

Abstract

This article describes one way in which teacher educators can gain a new perspective on integrating theory and practice. By accompanying teachers and student teachers on field trips, teacher educators have the opportunity to enhance their understanding of the day‐to‐day life of a classroom teacher and become a part of the school community.

Participating in a field trip offers a chance to observe classroom management strategies; engage in informal interactions with children, teachers, and parents; develop trust among classroom practitioners; witness emergent curriculum; and participate in authentic assessment.

The author documents a visit to the zoo with kindergarten students, teachers, student teachers, and parents from an urban school and how the visit impacted on her working relationship with cooperating teachers, student teachers, and kindergartners.     

Knowledge and attitudes of secondary school teachers regarding sexual health education in England

Objective To assess the sexual health knowledge of teachers who contribute to secondary school sexual health education in order to determine whether teachers are adequately prepared to implement present government education and public health policies.

Design Results were obtained from a questionnaire as part of a two‐phase intervention study.

Setting Nineteen mixed‐sex, state secondary schools in central England.

Participants One hundred and fifty‐five teachers (94 female, 61 male) participated.

Main outcome measures The questionnaires were distributed to teachers to assess their knowledge of sexual health, contraception and sexually transmitted infections. In addition, teachers' attitudes on the subject of sex and relationships education were evaluated.

Results The results suggest that teachers have insufficient sexual health knowledge to effectively teach sexually transmitted infections or emergency contraception, although their general sexual health knowledge was good. Therefore, at present teachers do not have adequate specialist knowledge in sexual health to contribute to current recommendations for sex and relationships education in secondary schools. There were no statistically significant differences in the results regarding location of school, area of residence, gender or age of the participant.

Conclusions Many teachers are being expected to contribute to secondary school sexual health education programmes at a time when they do not have sufficient knowledge to provide young people with adequate sexual health education and when they do not feel prepared to teach, and in many cases would prefer not to teach, these programmes.     

SMART education technologies in mathematics teacher education - ways to integrate and progress that follows integration

ABSTRACT

SMART Education Technologies (SET) are already in place to provide teachers with different software packages and technologies to facilitate their teaching. However, when it comes to mathematics teaching in Russia, the situation here is different as the articulation of such SET in the Russian context is inadequate. This study redefines mathematics teacher education with smart technologies and identifies IT competencies that are needed to cope with the redefined curriculum. The designed course programme was implemented in the Elabuga Pedagogical Institute, involving 7 teachers from the Institute, 123 students (trainee teachers) and 5 schoolteachers (experts) to keep a professional eye on the learning experience. To evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum, a survey was carried out among teachers and experts. The survey questionnaire captured the progress made in competence development alongside three modules. The progress that students were making throughout the course was evaluated at the ‘mock teaching’ lesson, where students presented their individually prepared parts of a lesson on a given topic using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The way the learning process was organised encouraged students to use various software packages to handle maths-related problems. The research results showed that the SET learning path was flexible and allowed modification of the instructional strategy to better meet the needs of individual learners.     

Recognizing and nurturing intrinsic motivation: A cautionary tale

Intrinsic motivation has multiple definitions. Introductory teacher education courses must alert prospective teachers to the exceptional qualities of non‐conforming students who lack the benefit of being teacher pleasers. Teacher trainers must ensure that pre‐teachers are aware of the multiple definitions of intrinsic motivation prior to a request that they observe, listen, and analyze intrinsically motivated students. Without a complete understanding of the characteristics of gifted students and the types of behaviors they sometimes exhibit within the classroom, many gifted students will be unrecognized and underserved. With services to gifted students tied to their identification, it becomes important for classroom teachers to be able to recognize that the potential for gifted behavior often extends far beyond the ability to contribute efficiently and effectively. Pre‐service teachers must also recognize that intrinsically motivated students sometimes view their initial attempts as work in progress and remain skeptical and critical of their accomplishments.     

Values in the mathematics classroom

Abstract

Values, moral values and democratic values are attracting the attention of education researchers in general and mathematics education researchers in particular. Little research has studied pre-service teachers’ perceptions of values in the classroom, their perceptions of the relationship between the different variables of values in the classroom, as well as their relationship with the democratic society. The present research attempts to do so. Twenty-two graduate pre-service teachers who participated in ‘New trends in mathematics education’ course discussed how to cultivated values in the mathematics classroom. Moreover, they answered survey questions related to the cultivation of values in this classroom. We used a combination of deductive and inductive content analysis to characterize the pre-service teachers’ texts. The research results indicate that the pre-service teachers perceived values as encouraging students’ activity in the mathematics classroom. In addition, the pre-service teachers perceived values as encouraging specific categories of values needed as skills for the citizen in a democratic society, as creativity, critical thinking and metacognition.     

LESSONS LEARNED IN FOUR URBAN EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAMS AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHER EDUCATION

Abstract

Teacher educators are often searching for methods and/or techniques to enhance and expand the content of their courses. As teacher educators, we do not want to introduce new methodology that detracts our students’ attention away from the course content. However, we need to keep our courses current and interesting for ourselves as well as for our students. Several teacher educators at one institution have begun including service‐learning projects into their preservice and inservice teachers’ courses as a way to augment the standard curriculum. The focus of this study is to illustrate how service‐learning was incorporated into the existing children's literature course and share the five cooperative projects that resulted from this integration.     

Educating Student Teachers to Use Small Groups in Secondary‐school Music Classrooms

The use of small groups in teaching classroom music is often accepted in the literature and by expert teachers as a natural part of a music‐education programme. However, research indicates that the classroom teacher commonly does not make use of small‐group activities and that, when small groups are used, the results are not always positive. This article describes a teacher‐education course aimed at developing student teachers’ abilities to manage small groups in the secondary‐school music classroom, and reports the perceptions of both student teachers and teacher‐observers when the students applied their learnings in the practicum setting.     

Year-long teacher professional development on fifth grade student science outcomes

ABSTRACT

We first examined the effects of a year-long professional development (PD) programme for elementary science teachers on fifth grade student performance on state-mandated science achievement tests of students from a treatment and a comparison group of teachers in the 2009–2010 academic year. Then, we investigated the longer-term impacts by comparing the 2010–2011 student test results of the teachers one year after receiving treatment in 2009–2010 with the students of teachers who received treatment during 2010–2011. Test scores were analysed using a propensity score matching method to examine the relationship between the PD and student achievement. Results showed that even though the treatment teachers were out of the classroom 20% of the school year to attend the PD, there was no difference between their students’ science achievement scores and those of the comparison teachers who were in the classroom every day. This is an important finding because many principals and parents are reluctant to provide teachers with release time for PD. We also determined that students of teachers one year after participating in the PD significantly (p?<?0.001) with a medium effect size (η²?=?.088) outperformed students of teachers who had just completed the programme. This suggests that it takes time for teachers to implement new teaching strategies and that to observe the impact of an intervention programme, it may be important to expand the timeframe of the programme evaluation.     

Taking and teaching the test are not the same: a case study of first-year teachers’ experiences in high-stakes contexts

Background: Policymakers’ use of high-stakes exams to improve students’ academic achievement affects teachers and their tenure in the field at all levels of schooling. Novice teachers now being inducted into the field have been educated almost exclusively in these high-stakes learning environments. Yet, how their familiarity with these contexts combined with their experiences in their own classrooms affect novices’ induction into the field of teaching has not been fully examined. Aim: This article presents findings from an investigation into the experiences of two first-year teachers who were educated and trained to be teachers in the same high-stakes education system in which they taught. It examines how these first-year teachers viewed policymakers’ reforms affecting their teaching and tenure in the field. Methods: This qualitative case study centers on the experiences of two first-year teachers working in the same high-stakes standards-based accountability teaching context in which they were educated – the case. This study provides insight into the issue of how novices’ familiarity with high-stakes reform combined with their experiences in their own classrooms impacts their conceptions of their teaching and their tenure in the field. Outcomes: The findings from this case study reveal how policymakers’ high-stakes reforms impacted the development of these novice teachers in significant ways. Not only did they have to learn how to teach as they taught, but they also had to ensure they were teaching all of their students to pass the high-stakes exams. Their varied experiences also demonstrate how these high-stakes exams can ‘test’ beginning teachers out of the classroom. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that first-year teachers’ familiarity with policymakers’ high-stakes reforms is not enough to prepare them for the expectation that they immediately improve students’ academic achievement on high-stakes exams. Such findings not only challenge what it means to be a educator in these contexts, but they also shed light on how larger political and economic forces impact the teaching and tenure of novices. To support new teachers, teacher educators and mentors should rethink the education and induction processes while helping novices understand as well as prepare for the role context plays in their teaching and development as professionals.