Critically-oriented pedagogical tact: learning about and through our compulsions as teacher educators

The work of critical teacher education centers on making sure future teachers learn to be critically-oriented practitioners. In this article, I assert that this sort of learning must first begin with the critical teacher educators themselves, and that much of the most fruitful learning manifests itself in the teacher educator’s compulsions. Drawing on a key finding from a phenomenological study that focused on cultivating pedagogical tact in teaching, I suggest that the ways in which I compulsively strategized at times limited what I could accomplish as a critically-oriented teacher educator; that each of us as teacher educators have compulsions that limit just as much as they make possible; and that our examinations of these compulsions are important for our students’ growth as critically-oriented practitioners.     

Resolving the amalgam: connecting pedagogical content knowledge,content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge

ABSTRACT

This paper concludes the Special Issue (SI) ‘Probing the Amalgam: the relationship between science teachers’ content, pedagogical and pedagogical content knowledge’. We review the five papers (Sorge et al; Gess-Newsome et al; Kind; Pitjeng-Mosabala and Rollnick; and Liepertz and Bronowski) by discussing evidence these present regarding the relationships between content knowledge (CK), pedagogical knowledge (PK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK); the development of CK, PK and PCK in novice and experienced secondary science teachers and how CK, PK and/or PCK impact students’ learning. In conclusion, we draw these findings together in offering proposals for future research via reconsideration of Shulman’s amalgam. This includes post-hoc examination of a PCK model known as ‘the Consensus Model’ (Gess-Newsome, [2015]. A model of teacher professional knowledge and skill including PCK: Results of the thinking from the PCK Summit. In A. Berry, P. J. Friedrichsen, & J. Loughran (Eds.), Re-examining Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Science Education (pp. 28–42). New York, NY: Routledge; Neumann, Kind, & Harms [2018]. Probing the amalgam: The relationship between science teachers’ content, pedagogical and pedagogical content knowledge. International Journal of Science Education, 1–15) and presentation of a novel PCK structure based on evidence from the SI studies.     

Interactions in vocational education: negotiation of meaning of students and teaching strategies

This study aimed to describe verbal student–teacher interactions in vocational education from a socio-cultural perspective on negotiation of meaning. Teaching as part of these interactions is addressed by a combination of diagnosing, checking and intervening strategies. A study was conducted in which students (n students?=?20) and teacher (n teachers?=?5) from Social Work (SW) and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) worked together in small groups (n groups?=?5) discussing vocational core problems. Each group held five discussions (n discussions?=?25). All discussions were audio recorded and transcribed before they were analysed for negotiation of meaning including teaching strategies. The results showed that 5–8% of the interactions include negotiation of meaning. Interactions in SW groups revealed more negotiation of meaning than in interactions in ICT groups. Teaching strategies mainly included checking and intervening activities in favour of diagnosing activities. Furthermore, teachers used meta-cognitive and conceptual interventions most frequently. The implications of these results are discussed by reflecting on occupational differences and on how negotiation of meaning including teaching strategies can be enhanced.     

The impact of international programs on pedagogical practices of their participants: a Russian experience

International exchange and training programs play a significant role in the development of international cooperation between educators from different nations. More and more teachers and school administrators participate in exchange programs and implement new curricular and instructional practices in their institutions. The objectives of this interpretive exploratory case study were (a) to investigate the impact of international exchange and training programs on pedagogical practices of Russian school teachers and administrators and (b) to find out how participants of international programs apply, implement, and transfer their experiences and knowledge that they obtain during their programs. The data were collected through personal interviews, observations, and materials from several debriefing sessions in 2005. The study demonstrated that the participation in international programs significantly impacts educators’ pedagogical practices, expands the range of their instructional approaches, makes program alumni more culturally sensitive and perceptive, and influences their interpersonal relations in schools, their professional growth, and social status. This research can be of interest to perspective participants of international programs and practitioners who develop and organize international programs for educators.     

科学教育：过去,现在和未来

一百年来,现实的吁求,政治经济问题的直接充当了我们科学教育的思维起点,以至从过去到现在一直都没有形成健全的民族科学教育理念,使科学意识并没有深入民族文化心理之中,未来的科学教育必须在充分反思教育与科学自身处境的基础上,协调科学教育与社会发展的关系,处理好科学与人文、科学文化与民族心理、心智训练与知识掌握、普及与提高、尊重科学与唯科学主义之间的紧张与冲突,以谋求自身乃至民族的健康发展。     

The pedagogical value of art and music in the past and the present

Pedagogical theory and research practice tend to confine themselves to study the cognitive aspect of a child＇s personality and to focus on his/her productivity, while forgetting about other dimensions. The ability to experience artistic contents and the creative capacity of our society are decreasing. People are in a continuous search for spiritual balance and therefore the task of the contemporary school is to help people get out of this crisis and pay more attention to the realization of educational tasks and goals as well as individual school subjects. Art has always played the role of purposefully influencing the experiencing, feeling, creating and enjoying of beautiful things. It therefore provides a counterbalance to the rationalized world of today. Especially music plays a special role in all periods and all human societies, however, not because it encourages various experiences or notions in the listener or a pleasant atmosphere, but because it presents a challenge to the development of spiritual perception that does not occupy an important, enough place in the present school system. Based on different historical understandings of the pedagogical value of music, the author tries to determine what pedagogical value was ascribed to music in the past and what pedagogical value it is being ascribed today     

Becoming a teacher: Coordinating past,present, and future selves with perspectival understandings about teaching

A longitudinal study is presented of how students preparing to become teachers conceptualized teaching and developed their identities as teachers. Findings were that contextualized momentary switchings between student and teacher perspectives accompanied participants' understandings about teaching and their negotiation of the process of becoming a teacher. Dynamic processes involved in constructing conceptions of teaching and self-as-a-teacher unfolded across three semesters, culminating in a more professional identity at program's end. The study contributes to teacher preparation research by making connections among aspects of professional development and suggesting a model of learning to teach, grounded in participants' situated perspectives on teaching.     

合作教师教育模式的运用——一条更加贴近现实的途径

介绍了挪威科技大学教师教育系和实习学校之间进行的合作教师教育模式,并探讨了这一模式能否实现“贴近现实的教师教育”这种理念。探讨了该模式是否给学生提供了名副其实的教学相长的机会,是否增加了学生与各个合作者交流的机会,从而使学习成为社会的、互动的过程。最后,审视了该模式是否给学生提供了提高反思能力的机会并促进了实习教师的专业发展。     

Probing the amalgam: the relationship between science teachers’ content,pedagogical and pedagogical content knowledge

ABSTRACT

This Special Issue aims to present evidence about the relationships between content knowledge (CK), pedagogical knowledge (PK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK); the development of these types of knowledge in novice and experienced secondary science teachers; and how CK, PK and/or PCK impact students’ learning. Since Shulman’s introduction of PCK as the feature that distinguishes the teacher from the content expert, researchers have attempted to understand, delineate, assess and/or develop the construct in pre- and in-service teachers. Accordingly, empirical findings are presented that permit further discussion. Outcomes permit post-hoc examination of a recent, collectively described, ‘consensus’ model of PCK, identifying strengths and potential issues. As we will illustrate, the relationship between CK, PK and PCK is central to this; that is, probing the hypothesis of pedagogical content knowledge as an ‘amalgam’ of content and pedagogical knowledge.     

Feeling Heard: Inclusive Education,Transformative Learning,and Productive Struggle

Developments in international inclusive education policy, including in prominent UN documents, often refer to the aim of a quality education for all. Yet, it remains unclear: What exactly is meant by quality education? And, under what conditions are quality educational experiences possible for all learners? In this essay, Diana Murdoch, Andrea English, Allison Hintz, and Kersti Tyson bring together research on inclusive education with philosophy of transformative learning, in particular John Dewey and phenomenology, to further the discussion on these two questions. The authors argue that teacher–learner relationships, of a particular kind, are necessary for fostering environments wherein all learners have access to quality educational experiences associated with productive struggle as an indispensable aspect of transformative learning processes. They define such relationships as “educational relationships that support students to feel heard.” In developing their argument, the authors first analyze the concept of productive struggle, an aspect of learning increasingly recognized in research and policy as an indicator of quality education. Second, they discuss three necessary, though not sufficient, conditions for the teacher to cultivate educational relationships that support students to feel heard. Third, they draw out connections between environments that support feeling heard and those that support productive struggle, and they discuss teachers' challenges and risk-taking in creating such environments. The authors close with a discussion of implications for international policy, practice, and research.     

Primary school puberty/sexuality education: student-teachers' past learning,present professional education,and intention to teach these subjects

Primary school teachers are often tasked with puberty/sexuality education for students who are undergoing sexual maturation at ever-earlier ages. This study explores the changing trajectories of the pre-service learning and teaching of primary school puberty/sexuality education at an urban university, including student-teachers' childhood learning, professional pre-service studies, and technological educational future. Biographical narratives and a theoretically based conceptual and diagnostic framework are used to analyse the views of fourth-year Bachelor of Education student-teachers about their own primary school puberty/sexuality education, their present university professional education for teaching these subjects, and their intentionality to teach them to future Grade 6 school students. Results show that these student-teachers intend to replicate their own primary school learning experiences. Pre-service professional education appears to have failed to operationalise the contemporary learning and teaching of puberty/sexuality education that would allow a new generation of more effective knowledge and pedagogies to be implemented.     

Cultivating relationships with school placement stakeholders: the perspective of the cooperating teacher

The aim of this paper is to analyse Irish school placement cooperating teachers’ supervisory experiences when involved in various structures of communities and explore factors which enabled or challenged them in cultivating relationships with school placement stakeholders where there is no formal system of supervision established in schools in the Republic of Ireland. Describing learning as a social process, research implies the significance of the development of relationships, membership within communities and identity construction. Using a qualitative approach, it was found that by formally engaging in a supervisory process, cooperating teachers experienced each of these characteristics to varying extents resulting in different supervisory experiences. The different configurations of membership allowed cooperating teachers to contribute towards school placement collaboration.     

Physics teachers: a holistic plan for professional education during both the pedagogical stage and the probation year

Despite the Bologna agreement implementation in 2008, teachers' education in Portugal has not changed significantly from earlier practice. The major modification in the requirements of master’s level teacher education programmes was the introduction of a strong component of educational research in a master’s degree; this is designed to replace an educational monograph in the typical 5-year ‘Licenciatura’. Both a professional one-year in-school pedagogical stage and a fifth year as a university student continue to be mandatory, as well as the stage co-supervision of the university and the school. However, existing government regulations imply that in the very near future the full professional education of teachers will have to be complemented with an in-service probation year conducted under the supervision of a school mentor. The current study has been designed to try to determine: (a) how the activities of the probation year should be organised in order to improve this stage of professional education; and (b) how probation years could be used to promote school–university partnerships that could provide for more effective in-service teacher education and/or possible shared educational action research. Drawing on the survey data from pre-service students from four different universities, novice teachers, stage supervisors and school principals, information was collected on the perceptions of the quality and scope of the professional education of future teachers from the beginning of their programmes through their pedagogical stage. A high degree of agreement among all the respondents enables us to point towards the perceived high quality of several components of the teacher education programmes, e.g, teachers’ ability to plan a lesson using different teaching strategies and the high value-accorded school–university collaborations. The results also show the weaknesses of other components, e.g, teachers’ skill with controlling badly behaved students and their ability to capture students’ attention and motivation. Based on these results and on our knowledge about the type of professional support needed to promote teaching practice, we conclude with a holistic plan designed for teachers’ professional education during the pre-service pedagogical stage and the in-service probation year.     

Enhancing student engagement in pre-vocational and vocational education: a learning history

Interest in student engagement has increased over the past decade, which has resulted in increased knowledge about this concept and about the aspects that facilitate engagement. However, as yet, only a few studies have focused on engagement from the perspective of the teacher. In this study, we capture the experiences of teachers who were explicitly working with their teams on fostering student engagement. We used the learning history method to capture those experiences and at the same time to stimulate learning within the participating teams. A learning history includes the voices of the different participants involved in order to stimulate reflection and learning. Three teams of teachers participated in the writing of this learning history. Several teachers (n = 10), students (n = 10), and managers (n = 5) from or related to the teams were interviewed. The learning history shows that, on the one hand, teachers emphasized positive relationships and structure in relation to student engagement, yet, on the other hand, students continued to provide examples of negative relationships and mentioned a lack of structure, although they also mentioned improvements. Furthermore, the learning history showed that teachers in all teams reflected on their experiences and learned from the activities employed to foster student engagement, which included taking a more positive approach, conversations about a skills form, and being more consequent. These results taken together indicate that it is possible for teachers to do a better job of engaging their students and that their repertoire can be expanded to include more engagement-related actions. Finally, the learning history produced offers insight into the difficulties experienced by the teams. An important limitation mentioned by all teams was that teachers found it difficult to address each other’s behavior when someone did not act as agreed upon.     

教师哲学的理据、内涵与实践路径

教师是天然的"哲学家",哲学化是他们教育生活中不可避免的行为.传统的教师教育体系虽然也体认到这一点,但并未使教师对哲学产生浓厚的兴趣,也无法对他们的教育实践产生真实的影响,这是由于其没有充分考虑到教师学习的独特方式所致.教师哲学的诞生有助于扭转哲学在教师教育体系中的尴尬处境,并对教师的专业发展产生更加显著的作用.教师哲学是一个"三位一体"的概念,它首先是指面向教师的哲学,其次是与教师一起做哲学,最后它是基于教师自身的哲学.从国际范围来看,教师哲学的实践模式主要有三类,即支持教师撰写教学哲学陈述,构建教师哲学探究共同体以及开展"哲学家驻园(驻校)"项目.     

教师个人教学哲学:意义与建构

教师个人教学哲学是教师素养的重要内容,教师形成个性化的教学哲学,对保证教学活动的有效性,促进教师专业化发展有着重要的意义。建构个体教学哲学是每一个教师在其教学生涯中必须面对的理性思考活动,它主要是通过学习教育理论、参与教学实践、反思教学实践和提炼教学认识等途径来实现的。建构与形成个性化的教学哲学是教师教学专业可持续发展的必然诉求。     

The importance of communication in teaching: A systems-theory approach to the scaffolding metaphor

Scaffolding as a metaphor for support of learning processes places focus on the relationship between the psychic and social aspects of those processes. This paper examines the conceptualization of this relationship in activity theory and in operational constructivism. The importance of a distinction between psychic processes, language and communication is especially emphasized and discussed in relation to understandings of empathy, inter-subjectivity, and distributed cognition.     

A foot in both camps: lessons learned about without-prejudice teaching and learning from cross-cultural experience

This paper articulates lessons learned about without-prejudice teaching and learning from a researcher-practitioner who has experience in both developing and developed contexts. Developing countries often look to Western countries for education standards, but Western countries rarely look to developing contexts where theory is being generated about divisions and access to education. This comparative study integrates lessons learned from both contexts. It uses an auto-ethnographic methodology and draws upon phenomenographic research and critical theory. The need for emic (insider) without-prejudice teaching and learning practices is articulated in three lessons: 1. culture privileges for or prejudices against students’ access to education; 2. beliefs systems allow or deny access to learning opportunities and environments; and 3. student–teacher relationship can interrupt prejudice.     

Reviving the ancient virtues in the scholarship of teaching,with a slight critical twist

This conceptual study argues that the scholarship of teaching is not just an evidence-based but also a virtues-based practice. To this end, it pursues two interrelated objectives. First, it seeks to show that the scholarship of teaching is supported by the intellectual virtues of ‘episteme’ (theoretical knowledge), ‘techne’ (productive knowledge) and ‘phronesis’ (practical knowledge). These three intellectual virtues stand in a particular relationship to one another and phronesis assumes a vital mediating function infusing the scholarship of teaching with the practical wisdom required in concrete situations. Phronesis, particularly a critically inspired phronesis, also enables the proper development and enactment of moral virtues, especially truthfulness, justice and courage, without which the standards associated with scholarship could not be upheld. It is further argued that the scholarship of teaching is usefully enriched by recognising two different versions of evidence-based practice: one is concerned with the evidence of instrumental effectiveness between strategies and outcomes; the other with evidence of the internal consistency between strategies and desired outcomes. It is proposed that analysing the scholarship of teaching through the lens of virtue helps appreciate what kind of a practice the scholarship of teaching is and the challenges involved in engaging with it well.     

Education for Sustainable Development: past experience., present action and future prospects

Rousseau's philosophy of education is contained not only in Emile (1762), but also in The Government of Poland (1772). In each of them he emphasises different aspects of education: How to be a human being? And: How to be a citizen? The main theme investigated by Rousseau in The Government of Poland, is how a minor nation surrounded by such major powers as Russia, Prussia and Austria can ensure its survival? Not having the option of defending itself against its powerful neighbours by military means, Rousseau's advice is to found the Polish nation in the hearts of the Polish people, primarily through citizenship education. However, Poland was finally divided between its neighbours in 1795. Rousseau's writing The Government of Poland can shed some light on the Danish situation after losing the war to Prussia and Austria in 1864. With its defeat Denmark did not disappear, as did Poland, but the territory of the United Monarchy was almost halved by the loss of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. After the war some of the same defence strategies and educational ideas as Rousseau had recommended to Poland became important in Denmark. In light of Rousseau's ideas about citizenship education this article will explore the Danish way of trying to establish the nation in the hearts of the people throughout the 20th century. Today the question is: How to understand the conception of self‐determination in the context of establishing European political unity? In his analysis Habermas directs our attention to some of the same dilemmas that Rousseau had dealt with 200 years earlier. Habermas’ advice is to give the European spirit a republican form.