Knowledge and pedagogy： An essential proposition in response to teacher preparation

In this paper, the researcher will examine various points of view of the different epistemological schools of thoughts in the first section of the paper. This will be followed by the analysis of the knowledge base and pedagogical reasoning in the second section. The third section of the paper will be devoted to examine the modem pedagogical practices which will be followed by the interpretation of the integration process of the content and pedagogy in the fourth section of the paper. The fifth section will reflect the implication of the finding of the study for preparing the successful teacher by making the balance of the knowledge base of teacher and the pedagogical knowledge. The whole paper has a great relevance with regard to preparing teachers for a changing context, because it has dealt with core components of knowledge and pedagogy.     

Equal Treatment and Cultural Difference in Multi‐ethnic Schools: a critique of the teacher ethnocentrism theory

ABSTRACT

This paper considers claims that students from minority ethnic backgrounds are treated less favourably than their white peers in schools because their teachers make negative, ethnocentric judgements of their behaviour. The paper challenges the empirical basis of these claims and the implicit model of good practice on which they are based. It goes on to examine some of the implications for teacher practice of this discussion. The aim is to try to clarify the meaning of equality of treatment in schools, a right we expect all citizens to enjoy, and to examine the way this principle should be operationalised by teachers in multi‐ethnic schools.     

Linking strategies and interventions in Asian American Studies to K–12 classrooms and teacher preparation

This article documents a series of programmatic strategies developed within an Asian American Studies Program at one urban public university to impact positively the education of K–12 students and teachers—especially, but not exclusively, those who are Asian American. The article first presents four critical challenges facing practitioners in the Asian American Studies field who wish?to intervene more actively within the domain of K–12 education. These include the complex demographic realities of Asian American populations; the exclusion of Asian American Studies content in the K–12 curriculum; the limited flow of Asian Americans into the field of education; and the confounding impact of high-stakes testing across all these areas. The article then describes six specific interventions by a university-based Asian American Studies program that have ecologically supported Asian American teacher education and professional development as well as K–12 curriculum development, parent/family training and high school youth development.     

A response to an article entitled “Improving teacher professional development for online and blended learning: a systematic meta-aggregative review”

Educational technology research and development - This response reviews the article entitled “Improving teacher professional development for online and blended learning: a systematic...     

Student-to-teacher violation and the threat to a teacher’s self

This paper is based on a study of fourteen Norwegian K-12 teachers who have been violated by students in schools. One key theme emerged during the process of analysis: the threat to the teachers’ self. This threat appears to be intensified due to lack of support. The findings in this small-scale Norwegian study indicate that student-to-teacher violation can have a serious impact on teachers’ perceptions of their individual and professional self. The findings disclose that the teachers’ self is affected leading to changed, weakened and disrupted experience of teachers’ self-understanding. This knowledge may influence how teachers can continue working when critical incidents occur.     

Rethinking the ‘Western Tradition’: a response to Enslin and Horsthemke

This is a reply to an article authored by Enslin and Horsthemke (2014) published in Educational Philosophy and Theory (EPAT). Enslin and Horsthemke argue that those who they refer to as ‘friends of the subaltern’ pit themselves against a straw-person that is swiftly dismissed in pointing out blindness of the Western tradition. They point out that in doing so ‘friends of the subaltern’ pursue a ‘politics of resentment’. In their reply, Le Grange and Aikenhead argue that Enslin and Horsthemke mischaracterise their work by cherry picking from their selected works and by taking their words out of context. They suggest that Enslin and Horsthemke produce their own straw-person arguments that they accuse others of doing. Le Grange and Aikenhead argue that their research programmes seek cognitive justice which is not tantamount to engaging in a politics of resentment.     

Are you looking to teach? Cultural,temporal and dynamic insights into expert teacher gaze

We know that teachers' gaze patterns affect student learning, that experts and novices differ in their gaze during teaching and that gaze patterns differ by culture in non-educational settings. However, teacher gaze research is limited to Western cultural contexts and largely to laboratory settings. We explored expert and novice teacher gaze in real-world classrooms in two cultural contexts: Hong Kong and the UK. Forty teachers wore eye-tracking glasses during teacher-centred activities. We analysed ‘communicative gaze’ (gaze during talking) and ‘attentional gaze’ (gaze during questioning). We compared static (i.e., aggregated) and dynamic (i.e., structural) measures across expertise and cultures. Expert teachers looked longer at students and showed greater gaze efficiency than novices did, during attentional and communicative gaze. Expert teacher gaze was also more strategically consistent. In terms of cultural differences, UK teachers displayed greater attentional efficiency whereas Hong Kong teachers displayed greater efficiency in their communicative gaze. Our research underscores the value of going beyond conventional static analyses for culturally sensitive gaze research.     

Spaces of agency within contextual constraints: a case study of teacher’s response to EFL reform in a Chinese university

This paper draws on a case study conducted in a Chinese university in the context of national College English reform. The aim is to investigate the policy enactment of the latest College English reform in China and the interaction between national policies, institutional policy, and teacher agency in responding to this educational reform from an activity theory perspective. The analysis examines the tensions and contradictions within and between the macro policy initiation level, the university implementation level, and the teacher’s classroom level, as well as examining the power distribution between these three activity systems. Data were collected from classroom observation, interviews, and examination of reform policy documents and analysed by Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The findings suggest that the control-compliance model functioned as the rule for the curriculum implementation at both national policy and institution level. However, in such a restrictive context, the participant teacher’s agency was enhanced through her engagement with the research and reflection on teaching, even exceeding the expectations of the reform.     

Back to the future on gender and anti‐school boys: a response to Jeffrey Smith

This article examines recent claims by Jeffrey Smith that: (1) ‘hegemonic masculinity’ is an expression of working class counter‐school culture; (2) some teachers are ‘cultural accomplices’ in constructing ‘hegemonic masculinities’ of anti‐school working class boys, thereby contributing to their underachievement; and (3) these ‘cultural accomplices’ are an emerging response to recent moral panics and neo‐liberal managerialism concerned with ‘failing boys’ at school. It is suggested that ‘hegemonic masculinity’ is not necessarily associated with anti‐school values in working class culture. Many working class boys might subscribe to ‘hegemonic masculinity’ without rejecting learning. Contrary to Smith’s emphasis on how working class culture generates anti‐school ‘hegemonic masculinity’, there is the possibility that ‘hegemonic masculinity’ is fused with anti‐school values produced by organisational differentiation. The continuing commonalities between working class anti‐school boys and the ‘gender regime’ of some secondary schools for over 20 years implies something more enduring at work than recent moral panics.     

Callous–unemotional (CU) traits in adolescent boys and response to teacher reward and discipline strategies

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between callous–unemotional (CU) traits and response to rewards and discipline in adolescent boys using a mixed-methods approach. Participants comprised 39 boys aged between 12 and 13 years and 8 teachers. Quantitative findings showed that CU traits were significantly related to punishment insensitivity, controlling for conduct problems, autism symptoms and hyperactivity. In contrast, there was no significant association between CU traits and reward sensitivity. Qualitative analysis indicated that teachers view children high in CU traits as responsive to fewer reward and discipline strategies, and strategies need to be implemented and monitored with care to avoid unintended, undesirable outcomes. However, time out, praise, support from other staff and maintaining a positive teacher–child relationship were identified as effective strategies. Findings emphasise the need to carefully select, modify and implement existing evidence-based classroom behaviour-management strategies with high-CU children.     

From LSA to teacher: the value of classroom experience in shaping a ‘teacher’ identity

Routes into teacher training have expanded in recent years, accompanied by a growing interest in schools ‘growing their own’ teachers from amongst support staff. However, little attention has been paid to their transition to the role of teacher. This article investigates influences on identity development and the extent to which personal values are reconciled with professional demands and socially constructed facets of educational practice. Participants were nine staff in one secondary school for pupils with moderate learning difficulties who had undertaken the transition from LSA (learning support assistant) to teacher. Qualitative data were obtained through an online survey and focus group discussion. Findings show that extensive opportunities to experiment with provisional and possible selves, immersion in educational discourse, classroom agency and staff collaboration engender a ‘teacher’ self-concept and positive motivations for LSA career development, and that self-esteem and self-efficacy are strengthened by how an individual’s values align with those of the setting in which they work. Findings may inform school leaders as to the value of training teachers ‘in-house’ and support career development decisions of LSAs, a pathway of potential significance given the current pressures on teacher recruitment and retention.     

A sociocultural perspective on teacher response: Is there a student in the room?

This article explores the implications of a sociocultural perspective on learning for the study of teacher response. From such a perspective, knowledge is seen neither as something that can be handed down ready made, nor something that can be constructed by individuals on their own. Rather, it is viewed as being socially constructed in interactive processes, and in school, intimately wedded to the activities in which teachers and students engage. Both students and teachers are seen as contributing to the interaction and thus, to the social process of knowledge construction. Yet in the literature on teacher response, the pervasive focus has been on what teachers say and do. Less attention has been paid to the students' perspective and role in the process — to how they react to, and what sense they make of, their teachers' comments. Lack of attention to the student's perspective limits the conclusions that can be drawn from research on teacher response. Three of the articles in the present issue are reviewed in light of this limitation.     

Critical elements for the science teacher to adopt a student‐centered approach: the case of a teacher in transition

Much research has been done and reform is suggested relating to teachers’ implementation of student‐oriented learning environments, yet research on the role, beliefs, pedagogy, and knowledge of teachers simultaneously in classroom environments has been minimal (Kyle, 1994 Kyle, W.C. 1994. School reform and the reform of teacher education: Can we orchestrate harmony?. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 31: 785–786. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 31, 785–786). This case study reports on a teacher’s perceptions, epistemology, and understandings of student‐oriented learning environments during a large project in which teachers from Grades 7 to 11 implemented an interactive‐constructivist approach in place of a traditional teacher‐oriented approach. In‐depth analysis of data revealed that the participant teacher’s perspective of a student‐centered science learning environment concerned the following: understanding of students’ prior knowledge, the importance and challenges of questioning, the teacher’s conceptual understanding of topics and unit preparation before and during the implementation, and the teacher’s motivation and problems in moving toward such an environment. There was consistency between the emerging themes and the crucial components of Simon’s Mathematics Teaching Cycle model, such as the teacher’s conceptual and pedagogical knowledge, hypothetical learning trajectory, and the teacher’s beliefs and teaching practice as argued by Haney, Czerniak, and Lumpe (1996 Haney, J., Czerniak, C. and Lumpe, A. 1996. Teacher beliefs and intentions regarding the implementation of science education reform strands. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 33(9): 971–993.  [Google Scholar], Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 33(9), 971–993) and van Driel, Beijaard, and Verloop (2001 van Driel, J.H., Beijaard, D. and Verloop, N. 2001. Professional development and reform in science education: The role of teachers’ practical knowledge. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 38(2): 137–158. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 38(2), 137–158). Further, findings of this study would help teacher education and reform planners to conduct more comprehensive studies on teachers’ perceptions about inquiry‐based teaching over the course of several years of inservice and preservice programs.