Teacher education and the best-loved self

Four narrative fragments involving research disseminated globally – namely, United States, Israel, The Netherlands, The People's Republic of China – are used to instantiate the phenomenon of teachers teaching their best-loved selves, without becoming the curriculum themselves. Next, the development of the best-loved self-conceptualization as it emerged in Joseph J. Schwab's scholarship is traced, along with important connections to Michael Connelly and Jean Clandinin's research programme. After that, two important research questions are addressed: (1) If the best-loved self is integral to the teacher-as-curriculum-maker image, what practices might we engage in in teacher education to foster the best-loved self? And (2) How does change happen in pre-service teachers' pedagogical practices and repertoires, given the potential significance of the teacher's best-loved self-image? To conclude, the work returns to the opening narrative fragments to determine the answers that lie within.     

Teacher education and the behaviorally disordered child

The preparation of teachers of behaviorally disordered children remains a challenge for university training programs. The origins of the problem can be found in the medical model adopted by special education which allowed for the development of various schools of thought which suggested panaceas to deal with all problems. Unfortunately, the problem of preparing teachers to work in a variety of settings with a wide range of behaviorally disordered children still exists. To meet these problems, it is suggested that a framework of teacher preparation which included competence in educational assessment, remedial teaching, and behavior management would provide the skills essential for effective programming in a variety of treatment settings. The content for these skill areas should represent a careful integration of components from a variety of theoretical approaches. The result should represent a comprehensive, functional delivery system which meets the pragmatic demands of those delivering services to the behaviorally disordered child.     

Teacher research and the aims of education

We report on the development of a course for experienced teachers in the Netherlands, intended to enhance their professionalism by engaging them in doing research based on reflection on the aims of their educational efforts. The course was accompanied by design-based research. The research question was whether and how the course stimulated teachers to connect doing research and taking a reflective stance; the results were used to improve the course, thus creating a cyclical design. Although the course was positively evaluated by the participants, reflection on its results made clear to us that our approach in the combination of learning to do research and reflecting on aims is not enough to make teachers into critical research-minded professionals. A more context-aware view of their learning process is necessary: the institution school limits their possibilities. The implication is that both our course and our research effort have to be critically revised. Instead of looking for causal effects, one should be aware of traces of development that may or may not be caused by the intervention.     

严格的教师职业教育——德国的师资培养和教师进修评介

德国基础教育质量保证的重要因素之一，是有一支训练有素、充分合格的基础教育师资队伍。本文集中评介德国的师资培训和教师进修体系，并对我国师范教育的发展提出一点思考。     

美国教师教育评论

20世纪80年代，自从美国宣称自己的教育处于危险之中后，各种团体经过大量的调查得到结论认为：美国教育改革的首要任务是改革教学，而改革教学，专家型的教师起着关键性的作用。因此，一系列教师教育改革方案被提出并实施。     

新疆教师教育的回顾与展望

文章通过对新疆教师教育百年发展历程的回顾,看到了新疆教师教育所取得的巨大成就,从早期的初等师范教育到目前完整的教师教育体系,新疆教师教育的发展速度非常快。但是,新疆的教师教育在进行高速发展的同时．也积累和遗留了不少问题,而这些成绩和问题都值得认真总结和思考。     

Teacher education through the history of mathematics

In this paper I consider the problem of designing strategies for teacher education programs that may promote an aware style of teaching. Among the various elements to be considered I focus on the need to address prospective teachers’ belief that they must reproduce the style of mathematics teaching seen in their school days. Towards this aim, I argue that the prospective teachers need a context allowing them to look at the topics they will teach in a different manner. This context may be provided by the history of mathematics. In this paper I shall discuss how history affected the construction of teaching sequences on algebra during the activities of the ‘laboratory of mathematics education’ carried out in a 2 year education program for prospective teachers. The conditions of the experiment, notably the fact that our prospective teachers had not had specific preparation in the history of mathematics, allow us to outline opportunities and caveats of the use of history in teacher education.     

Teacher perceptions of the regular education initiative

A survey of 381 special and regular educators assessed perceptions and opinions surrounding the regular education initiative. Confirmatory factor analysis supported an a priori hypothesized structure of teachers' responses. Items factored into 14 categories. These factors describe issues related to preferred placement of students with mild disabilities, teachers' responsibility and ownership, teacher preparedness for meeting the needs of these students, achievement outcomes for all children, and the changes that would result from adopting the proposed consultant model rather than a pullout program. Results favored current special education practices (pullout programs) in elementary schools.     

西方教师知识与教师专业发展研究述评

在西方教育研究领域,教师知识作为教师认知世界中稳定和基础性的一部分,一直是教师教育与发展的一个核心议题。随着教师知识认识论的变化,其研究内容也随之在演变和扩展:从教师知识分类研究发展到教师实践知识研究。知识观的转向必然会导致教师发展范式的转变,而这些变化对推动我国教师教育研究与发展具有一定的借鉴意义。     

Teacher education designed or framed

This chapter highlights conclusions from the previous chapters about factors impinging on the design of teacher education programs and then assembles a design brief informed by the research reviewed. It begins with economic and social factors impinging on the recruitment, preparation and retention of teachers. It then looks at overall national policy for teachers and teacher education. National indicators of teacher quality and the option of training teachers after a period in post are discussed. The focus then shifts to teacher education institutions and their staff, next to the design process itself on which several perspectives are offered. Finally it suggests that given the complexities of teacher education policy, a long-term strategic planning approach might be more appropriate than a more narrowly conceived design brief.     

Teacher education research and education policy-makers: an Australian perspective

As teacher educators, we want our research to be influential in contributing to educational policy and practice, but there remains little understanding about ways in which teacher educators might more productively engage with each other and policy-makers so as to maximise their research impact. Drawing on an empirical study and policy document analysis, this paper seeks to foster a generative ‘researcher-policy-maker dialogue’ by understanding more about policy-makers’ perspectives of what shapes their decision-making and the current role of research evidence in those decisions. Using a research utilisation theoretical framework and discourse analysis, data revealed various factors that served as barriers or enablers to using research in making education policy decisions. Results indicated that policy-makers largely position research as key to solving their policy problems. As such they sought better communication strategies to utilise research findings in a timely, free and publicly accessible, user-friendly manner. Overall, they called for a greater dialogue and engagement at all stages of the policy process and criticised what they perceived as a ‘fly in-fly out’ research approach. Recommendations suggest new collaborative approaches and genres are needed for the teacher education research community to have a greater impact in influencing policy.