Team learning: through the relational dynamics of co‐operation and rivalry in team communities

This paper explores the constructive links between cooperation, rivalry, and learning within the structure of team communities. Drawing upon social learning theory and qualitative data from case studies conducted in Danish team‐based firms, the main purpose is to argue that both cooperation and rivalry are important triggers for mobilizing learning processes within and between teams. However, social learning theory tends to disregard the positive aspects of rivalry. Instead, the paper suggests that rivalry is often critical for learning to take place, and identifies four recurrent stories of rivalry as a trigger of learning based on two case studies of teamwork dynamics in firms. Consequently, this paper argues for the need to extend social learning theory beyond its rather harmonious learning perspective.     

The Complementary roles of the Headteacher,the Mentor and the Advisory Teacher in Induction and School‐based Teacher Training

This article reports on the findings of a two year research project on the management of new teacher induction in five LEAs (Turner, 1992). Headteachers, mentors and newly qualified teachers in twelve schools were interviewed as were LEA officers, Inspectors and advisory teachers. The analysis showed the key roles of headteacher, mentor and advisory teacher to be different but complementary. The conclusions are drawn from a detailed analysis of some 180 interviews.     

The History Teacher and the Math Teacher

Whose memory is the best in your school?     

Teacher‐Training: The Voice of Recent,Substantial and Relevant Experience

Summary

Profiling is becoming increasingly accepted at all levels of education. This paper explores the principles and practice of profiling in initial teacher eduation. The first sections of the paper deal with an explanation of the profiling movement and its perceived potential advantages and weaknesses. An account of practice in one University Department of Educational Studies is then given. Data was gathered over the period of one academic year which allows for comments to be made about the construction and use of a profile. Recommendations are made which focus attention on the need to handle the statements of competence which have recently been issued by the DfE with great sensitivity.     

The ‘Problem’ of the Female Pupil Teacher: constructions,conflict and control 1860‐1910

This paper highlights just one aspect of the highly gendered nature of nineteenth century pupil teaching and focuses on how the female pupil teacher was constructed as a ‘problem’. The paper consists of two broad sections and draws extensively upon the experience of female pupil teachers who attended pupil teacher centres during the school board period. First, to set the scene and contextualise the ‘problem’, a brief account of the feminisation of teaching and what this meant for the female pupil teacher and pupil teaching in general is explored, with particular reference to the complexities of female pupil teachers’ working life and the issue of mixed centre organisation. Secondly, there follows an analysis of how attempts were made to solve or contain the perceived ‘problem’ of the female pupil teacher through the simultaneous exercise of: moral control; protection and concern with physical and mental well‐being; moulding through the medium of ‘healthful recreation’.     

The Teacher—Child Advocate or Functionary of the System?

The school is one of the largest service enterprises of the state and must have a well-functioning administrative organization. Teachers, the real representatives of the organization of teaching, must respect this. Without the efforts of the administration, the prerequisites and general framework of instruction, namely, premises, financial resources, and personnel, would be largely inaccessible, and the school and its day-today operations would come to a halt. But if we formulate an antinomy between these two areas of responsibility in defining our topic, this happens because disruptions occur in the direct functioning of the educational process which are demonstrably attributable to encroachments of the administrative organization on the organization of teaching. A few examples will illustrate this vividly.     

The Changing Context of Further Educational Provision: fears and expectations of special needs co‐ordinators

ABSTRACT

In this paper we examine how the changing context of further educational provision is influencing the practice of one group of lecturers. These are the ‘special needs’, or ‘learning support’, co‐ordinators, whose responsibilities include supporting students with disabilities or learning difficulties as well as developing skills in staff management and negotiating for resources.     

The Dynamics of Interaction During Post‐lesson Conferences and the Development of Professional Activity: Study of a pre‐service physical education teacher and her co‐operating teacher

The purpose of this study was to characterise the development of a preservice physical education teacher's professional activity over the course of training interactions with her co‐operating teacher. The student teacher's professional development was studied using a hermeneutic and inductive approach based on the analysis of data from observation and self‐confrontation interviews. The results showed that the preservice teacher's conceptions regarding her teaching developed despite communication difficulties with her co‐operating teacher and that she constructed new knowledge—at times without her co‐operating teacher's awareness—even when she disagreed with him. However, the student teacher's classroom activity did not always change as a result of this new knowledge. The self‐confrontation interviews revealed her construction of knowledge, as well as the reasons for disagreement and her resistance to changing her classroom action.     

Institutional innovations in higher education in central Europe: Agenda for research and co‐operation

Abstract

Research findings on graduate employment in the UK continue to highlight the importance that employers attach to the general knowledge, attitudes and social skills that graduates possess in addition to specific disciplinary knowledge and expertise. Additionally, work based learning is increasingly being viewed as an important vehicle by which undergraduates can develop personal and social skills, as well as gaining knowledge of how organisations work. In this paper I will argue that although developments in undergraduate work based learning do raise a number of issues for higher education institutions and for employers, such developments have much to offer the broader education policy of lifelong learning.     

Examining the implementation of two co‐teaching models: team teaching and station teaching

In Turkey, the number of students in mainstream education is increasing, and a support service does not exist even though mainstreaming has been implemented for many years. Therefore, within this system, many students with special needs are failing. Thus, there is a need for evidence‐based research projects concerning the ways of supporting these students such as the co‐teaching approach. In the research detailed in this article, the participants were one regular education teacher and the researcher as special education teacher. The design of the study was action research. Data collection techniques were a checklist, documents (lesson plans, students’ products), researcher journal, actual recordings of co‐planning and reflection meetings and instructions. The findings were demonstrated based on the co‐planning meetings, teaching practices and reflection meetings. Concerning the challenging issues of implementation, support services should certainly be provided in the mainstream classes, and additional research is needed to systematically examine the impacts of teachers taking time to undertake common planning and/or discussing student performance.     

The Nature of the Gift: Accountability and the Professor‐Student Relationship

In this paper I introduce the theory of gift giving as a possible means to reconcile the contradictions inherent in accountability measures of ‘faculty productivity’ in the American university. In this paper I sketch the theory of gift economies to show how, given the historical ideals that characterize the faculty‐student relationship, a theory of gift giving could help us better judge the labor of the faculty. I suggest that it is the relational character of teaching that frustrates accountability measures and that perhaps if viewed as a gift economy—and in particular an economy with ‘reproductive’ ends—we could better grasp the effectiveness of these relationships.     

Elephants,Donuts and Hamburgers: young children co‐operating to co‐operate and co‐operating to compete in two primary schools

Abstract A total of 152 5‐6‐year‐old schoolchildren worked alone or in groups, cooperatively within groups or competing against another group, over 4 weeks. New measures allowed us to consider their preferences for collective or individualistic styles. Three factors: individualism/collectivism, sociability and altruism were identified. The first two were found to be stable over time; the third changed and was related to whether the children worked co‐operatively or competitively. Differences were found in collectivism/individualism. Girls (particularly older girls) preferred working co‐operatively significantly more than boys at Time 1; however, this decreased over time for girls, whilst boys became less individualistic over time. Younger children scored significantly less than older children on a sociability factor, but this increased significantly over time compared to the older children‐‐artificially in the group co‐operative condition. Findings are discussed in light of curriculum and pedagogy of primary schools and social psychological research with children.     

Teacher education policy in Ireland and the challenges of the twenty‐first century

In line with the principles of the Bologna Process, teacher education systems across Europe are converging along a common path. Taking the Republic of Ireland (Ireland) as a case study, this paper examines the European agenda in relation to teacher education and asks how individual nation states are coping with the demands of greater comparability and compatibility. It suggests that while structurally, teacher education in Ireland has undergone significant reform in order to conform to a wider European agenda, significant gaps remain in existing teacher education policy particularly in relation to continuous professional development which will, if not addressed, impede Ireland’s capacity to adequately prepare teachers for the challenges of the twentieth‐first century.