Professional experience: learning from the past to build the future

The title of the 2014 Australian Teacher Education Association (ATEA) conference was Teacher Education, An Audit: Building a platform for future engagement. One of the conference themes was Professional Experience: What works? Why? I seized upon this theme and the title of the conference as it afforded me an opportunity to do an audit of my research in professional experience over the last 25 years. This article presents this evidence base and the messages I have taken from this evidence. I have done this in the hope that, by collating some of the insights gained from the past and the present, it will help to “build a platform for future engagement” in professional experience. In preparing this article I was asked by the Editors to reflect also on how I developed my distinctive line of inquiry and expertise in relation to the practicum across an extended period. These reflections are included. I hope they will support university-based teacher educators in enhancing their satisfaction and achievements from working in this stimulating and provocative field of study.     

Teacher education students using TPACK in science: a case study

Teacher education is in the grip of change. Due to the new Australian Curriculum, no longer is it possible to plan and implement lessons without considering the inclusion of Information and Communication Technologies. Simply knowing about the latest technology gadgets is not enough. Information literacy is essential in today’s information-rich learning and working environment. Students and teachers must be able to engage with diverse learning technologies efficiently and effectively in the search for the “right information” at the “right time” for the “right purpose”. Key information literacy and inquiry skills have been recognised as vital learning goals by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority and the International Society for Technology in Education and are thus critical in science teacher education. This paper examines the overlap of technology, pedagogy and science content in the Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework and its affordances for science educators, at the intersection between technology knowledge, science pedagogy (information literacy and inquiry) and science content knowledge. Following an introduction of the TPACK framework for science education, the paper reports the research findings, which illustrate that 90% of pre-service teachers thought the experimental unit improved their understanding of the inquiry process, 88% reported more confidence in their understanding of science concepts and 94% of students reported an increase in their knowledge and confidence of Web 2.0 tools in supporting scientific inquiry in science. The implications of this study are that the online inquiry improved students’ knowledge and confidence in the skills and processes associated with inquiry and in science concepts.     

The effect of problem-based learning on the metacognitive awareness of pre-service science teachers

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of problem-based learning (PBL) on the metacognitive awareness of pre-service science teachers. In the study, an experimental design with pre-test/post-test control group was used. A total of 51 junior pre-service science teachers participated in the study. The study was carried out over 10 weeks and within the scope of an environmental science course. During the study, lessons in the experimental group were processed using a PBL approach while lessons in the control group were processed using a traditional teaching approach. Data were collected through a personal information form and Metacognitive Awareness Inventory. Data were then analysed using PASW Statistics 18 (SPSS Inc.). The findings of the study revealed that PBL could be an effective intervention to promote metacognitive awareness towards procedural knowledge, planning and debugging. The results are discussed based on the findings of the study.     

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.     

Teacher Education in Britain: a JET symposium with politicians

ABSTRACT

This paper reports on a symposium with the participation of the editor and deputy editor of the Journal of Education for Teaching and two senior British politicians on the current situation of teacher education in Britain. Topics discussed include: control and accountability, the influence of political and bureaucratic forces, the threat from unelected, non‐responsible bodies, threats to institutions, to the links of teacher education with higher education and the threat of the deskilling of the teaching professions. A concluding section considers the possibility that the policy of the Government is failing through its own structural defects and the possibility of the profession's subsequent recovery.     

职前教师教育中的通识教育:地位、现状与改善策略

通识教育理念已为我国教育界所接受且在职前教师教育体系中已见成效。但职前教师教育中的通识教育仍存在着教育目标、课程设置、认识水平、师资水平和教学方式与方法等方面的诸多问题。文章通过对通识教育在职前教师教育中的地位与作用进行剖析的基础上提出了促进教师教育中通识教育发展的强化理念、完善制度,统筹管理与规划设计课程体系,合理调整教师资源、选择恰当的教学方法,营造良好的通识教育氛围等策略性建议。     

职前中学英语教师教学实习中的认知发展:一项基于日志的个案研究

六名英语专业师范方向大四女生的实习日志,探索了我国职前中学英语教师在教学实习中的认知发展。结果表明,反映出其认知发展受内、外多种因素影响,呈现出强化、添加、改变等三种主要形式,展现出由关注自我转向关注学生,由盲目乐观转向乐观中透着现实,由关注教学行为转向关注教学行为背后潜在的意图,由概括、抽象转向具体、丰满等四项趋势。这项研究发现对我国职前中学英语教师培养具有一定启示作用。     

Out of the book and into the classroom: The experiences of Korean social studies pre-service teachers in an international teaching practicum in the United States

Despite the growing interest and importance of pre-service teachers’ cross-cultural experiences, a review of the literature shows that few studies have discussed the international teaching practicum experiences of pre-service teachers from Asian countries. Bridging this gap, this qualitative case study examined the perceptions and experiences of 15 Korean social studies pre-service teachers who participated in an international teaching practicum in the United States. The findings of the study demonstrated that although participants encountered difficulties in speaking a foreign language and adjusting to a different culture, they also gained confidence and self-efficacy by negotiating and actively participating in the teaching and learning process. This international teaching practicum also helped participants promote their own understanding of multiculturalism and their different perspectives of the teachers’ roles, teaching pedagogies, and local education systems. This study offers implications for future multicultural professional development in teacher education and contributes to developing a body of research and scholarship on international teaching practicums from Asian contexts that have, to date, been largely underexplored.     

Using Arts-based Methods in Pre-service Teacher Education: Perzine Pedagogies

The possibilities afforded by perzine pedagogies to nurture reflexivity in pre-service student teachers are presented and explored in this article. Perzine pedagogy as arts-based inquiry is grounded in the events of practical life and may provide a learning context for exploring the problematised nature of teaching. It considers how this reflexive and inquiry-oriented method offers opportunities to interrogate past learning, to accommodate the affective, to challenge constructed beliefs and to build adaptive behaviours. Employing the narrative inquiry lens of the researcher artist/teacher educator and the narrating and reflective voice of a visual arts teacher, this article illustrates how perzine production may inform insights into construction of teacher/learner identities. Perzines offer opportunities for experiential, critical and experimental encounters to move beyond the competency rhetoric to meet a new ethic: a personal desire for self-reflection and expression through opportunities to re-represent the teacher/learner self.     

Changing conceptions of teaching: a four-year learning journey for student teachers

Understanding student teachers’ development of conceptions of teaching and learning is critical for teacher educators. Drawing from the findings of a four-year longitudinal study in Hong Kong, this paper examines the trajectories of the student teachers’ changing conceptions of teaching and learning approaches throughout their undergraduate programme. Three types of trajectories: guided touring, experiential detouring and self-guided touring, as the changes in both conceptions of teaching and learning approaches, are presented. The results suggest that three factors: faculty, learners’ attitudes towards learning and ability to integrate different learning resources, influenced the development of the student teachers’ trajectories. This study adds to the international body of knowledge on the interconnected development of conceptions of teaching and learning approaches. The paper concludes with the implications for teacher education.     

职前教师教育中的“用电影教”——意义、主题与过程的分析

职前教师教育项目所进行的教学改革,多是针对传统的“传递取向教学法”的不足而设计的,“用电影教”即为改革举措之一。“用电影教”能使教学适应职前教师的认知特点,促进教育理论与实践的联结,为职前教师的思考和讨论提供“催化剂”,并发展其技术品性。在职前教师教育中,“用电影教”可用于教授诸多学习主题,在教学过程上具有一定的灵活性,但也遵循一些共性的要求。对职前教师教育中的“用电影教”进行研究,能够为职前教师教育的教学法改革提供参考。     

Teacher education for World English speaking pre-service teachers: Making transnational knowledge exchange for mutual learning

Pre-service teachers are taught that the funds of knowledge their students bring to school provide intellectual resources to be engaged through productive pedagogies. Teacher education may assist and/or hinder World English Speaking (WES) pre-service teachers in gaining access to the teaching profession by doing likewise. The interpretative case study presented in this paper involves exploring possibilities for teacher education programs to make transnational knowledge connections through WES pre-service teachers. Evidence from interviews with WES pre-service teachers and their Anglophone teacher educators are analysed to elaborate issues confronting teacher education programs involving World English Speakers. The findings indicate that teamwork which is constructed to privilege the knowledge of Anglophone pre-service teachers over their WES peers is questionable. Further, WES pre-service teachers are not only structurally disadvantaged by teamwork practices that privilege local knowledge, they are also challenged by teacher educators’ assessment procedures. The pressures created on teacher educators’ workloads, may lead to ‘lean and mean’ assessment procedures which serve to contain excessive demands on their labour, but do not necessarily resolve the dilemma of how to use assessment practices that minimise WES pre-service teachers’ learning.     

面向信息化教学能力的《现代教育技术》公共课教学改革

在基础教育信息化的推广应用阶段,如何培养和提高职前教师的信息化教学能力,以适应我国基础教育课程改革的需要,这已经成为了高师院校《现代教育技术》公共课教学改革迫切需要解决的问题。针对目前《现代教育技术》公共课教学实践中存在的主要误区,提出了信息化教学能力是信息时代教师教学能力的核心,阐述了信息化教学能力的内涵和发展阶段。以信息化教学能力为培养目标,从教学目标、课程内容体系、教学方法和教学评价四方面提出了《现代教育技术》公共课的教学改革策略。     

Teacher shadowing as an empowering technique for EFL student teacher practical knowledge development: insights from three-week shadowing programmes

This study reports on shadowing’s potential as an observational and preparatory tool for learning, drawing on data obtained from a group of EFL student teachers who undertook a practicum. EFL student teachers’ perceptions of the shadowing technique and how shadowing contributes to practical knowledge, are focused on. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and reflective reports after a shadowing experience of three weeks. Student teachers were found to have positive perceptions towards the shadowing technique, and a considerable development in their practical knowledge was also observed. The study recommends integration of shadowing into EFL practicum courses as a more rigorous approach.     

教育类课程对职前数学教师作用欠佳的归因调查

教育类课程对职前数学教师教学知识的发展作用欠佳的原因是多方面的,既有教育类课程内容方面的原因,也有职前数学教师自身的原因,此外教授职前教育课程的教师的专业能力、教学方法也是不可忽视的原因.     

An introduction to education research methods: exploring the learning journey of pre-service teachers in a transnational programme

Internationally there is interest in developing the research skills of pre-service teachers as a means of ongoing professional renewal with a distinct need for systematic and longitudinal investigation of student learning. The current study takes a unique perspective by exploring the research learning journey of pre-service teachers participating in a transnational degree programme. Using a case-study design that includes both a self-reported and direct measure of research knowledge, the results indicate a progression in learning, as well as evidence that this research knowledge is continued or maintained when the pre-service teachers return to their home university. The findings of this study have implications for both pre-service teacher research training and transnational programmes.     

Moments of becoming: experiences of embodied connection to place in arts-based service learning in Australia

The experience of place in arts-based service learning (ABSL) is personal. It can be difficult to define and challenging to share and build upon. This paper, reporting from a national ABSL project involving three Australian universities, is concerned with experiences of place in forming professional teacher identity. Using a narrative methodology in presenting the stories of six people, pre-service teachers and Indigenous community members, the paper draws on a number of different theoretical frameworks to explore each participant’s experience and its longer-term impact on their thinking. The participant stories revealed the value of spaces between art-making, teaching, and research. The learning experiences led pre-service teachers to reflect deeply in relation to self and to consider the impact of their experiences on both current and future professional interactions. As anticipated, participants found it difficult to communicate these elemental experiences in the written word. The findings have implications for the value of flexible and critical service-learning approaches, particularly in diverse cultural contexts.     

专业化与反思教学——浅论加强我国外语教师职前教育的几大途径

文章在分析目前我国外语教师职前教育现状的基础上,总结了其中存在的若干问题。针对这些问题,指出可以从专业化与反思教学等方面入手加强外语教师职前教育,从而帮助外语教师长期职业发展。     

Designing Higher Education Curriculum to Increase Graduate Outcomes and Work Readiness: The Assessment and Mentoring Program (AMP)

Pre-service teacher programs have a responsibility to equip graduating students with more than the minimum skill sets required by governing bodies. The Assessment and Mentoring Program (AMP) is a four-way collaborative mentoring learning community underpinned by social constructivism. Conducted in Victoria, Australia during the 2014–2016 academic years, 25 final year physical education pre-service teacher mentors aged 19–23 years (M = 13; F = 12) participated in focus groups to discuss the perceived benefits of the program prior to commencing their mentoring role. The mentors considered AMP as a pathway to develop experience in assessment, engage in appropriate professional relationships through mentoring and further their professional learning experiences. Through the involvement in mentoring and developing and implementing assessment, mentors perceived they would have an opportunity to develop valuable work ready skills, immediately transferable to their future professional role as a teacher in a school.     

Walking the Talk in Initial Teacher Education: Making Teacher Educator Modeling Effective

This self-study investigated student teachers' perceptions of teacher educators modeling practices within a large lecture class in an initial teacher education program. It also studied factors that affected student teachers' developing ideas and practice. Phase 1 collected data from student teachers through focus group interviews and course and teaching evaluations, as well as data from lecturers. Phase 2 collected further qualitative data from teacher educators to inform questions arising from Phase 1 findings. While student teachers' perceptions of critically reflective processes and teaching models modeled by lecturers were varied, they affirmed the positive value of lecturer modeling. Data highlighted gaps between lecturers' intentions and the student teachers' perceptions. Data confirm that effective modeling is difficult to achieve, particularly in large lectures. Student teachers were challenged by the demands of engaging critically with new content while also being attentive to modeling. Recommendations include explicitly unpacking our teaching practices, using training strategies to support student teachers in developing the ability to reflect critically, and increasing opportunities for student teachers to practice various teaching models and strategies.