Knowing the subject matter of a secondary‐school science subject

This paper examines the fundamental yet largely neglected distinction between school subjects and academic disciplines in the discourse on teachers’ specialized subject‐matter knowledge. It analyses and critiques the curricular positions embedded in that discourse in the light of five possible relationships between school subjects and academic disciplines. Invoking Dewey’s logical‐psychological distinction and research findings, the paper argues that the subject matter of a secondary‐school science subject instead of the subject matter of its parent academic discipline lies at the heart of secondary‐school science teachers’ specialized subject‐matter knowledge. Knowing such subject matter entails knowing five intersecting dimensions: the logical, the psychological, the pedagogical, the epistemological, and the sociocultural. Implications are drawn concerning theorizing about what secondary‐school science teachers need to know about the subject matter they are expected to teach, subject‐matter preparation for teaching, and the development of secondary‐school science curriculum materials.     

新课程改革背景下小学全科教师培养路径研究

《基础教育课程改革纲要(试行)》明确提出课程结构要改变“过于强调学科本位、科目过多和缺乏整合的现状”,小学阶段则应“以综合课程为主”。《小学教师专业标准(试行)》要求小学教师“适应小学综合型教学的要求、了解多学科知识”“了解所教学科与社会实践的联系、了解与其他学科的联系”。从知识能力结构、课程设置、教育教学模式、情感态度等方面提出小学全科教师培养路径。     

人文社会科的尴尬与破解

由于＂人文-社会科＂的学科名称厘定及其内涵界定等学理建设的欠缺,导致了学科地位及其内涵的认识混乱,从而导致了诸如教学资源建设、教学过程设计、课程内容衔接等教学建设滞后问题。同时,学科地位低下导致了学科教师的地位低下;学科内容骤然新增和高度综合提出的较高教师要求与任课教师水平形成的差距,突显了学科教师在专业知识、教学能力、专业持续发展等教师专业建设中的困难。为此,首先,从学科概念厘清及其系列课程关系澄清入手,以推进学理建设;其次,从学科地位提升、教学理念明晰着手,以推进全面教学建设;最后,除应急的多渠道教师培训外,还需要从教师的专业发展动力激发、专业知识完善和教研能力形成等方面促进教师队伍建设。     

‘Powerful knowledge’ curriculum theories and the case of physics

A stream of debate (including a previous special issue of this journal (25(1) 2014)) has made claims not just for ‘bringing knowledge back in’ as the framing underpinning of the school curriculum, but that subjects associated with disciplinary and disciplined knowledge forms have a particular power and that these characteristics are important to preserve in curriculum frameworks. This paper draws on a major Australian research project studying school and university physics in the context of these arguments to revisit the issue of the ‘discipline’ of physics and the curriculum logics for physics. Given that disciplines are social in origin and changing and expanding over time, can school curriculum be logically derived from the discipline to which they relate? Are questions about student engagement only questions about pedagogy and not curriculum? Does a focus on disciplinary knowledge mean that the role of school in forming identities and values is avoidable as a significant feature of what the curriculum does? The findings from the project are used both to illustrate and test these questions, and to challenge some over-simple assumptions about the verticality of this form of knowledge for education purposes.     

新形势下大学教育学院的功能

我国的教师教育制度、形式、体系正发生深刻的变化,大学教育学院的功能定位关系到开放的教师教育体系的健康发展。民国时期大学教育(师范)学院功能是:培养多方面的教育人才(学科教师、教育科教师,教育研究人员、教育行政人员);承担教育研究和服务地方教育。发达国家和地区大学教育学院的功能主要是:培养中小学教师;学术研究和传递;社会服务。当前我国大学教育学院的功能应该是:直接培养学科教师和社会需要的各种教育人才;繁荣和深化教育科研;加强社会服务。     

Review and Abstract

ABSTRACT

Case studies have pointed out that teachers’ disciplinary knowledge affects their pedagogy; however, the results are not consistent. There is a need for quantitative research to examine the relationship between teacher knowledge and practice, particularly in social studies where content-specific studies are mostly qualitative. The authors used history as an example and surveyed all public and private junior high school social studies teachers in Taiwan to examine if disciplinary backgrounds significantly affect teachers’ knowledge, conceptions about the discipline, and their teaching practices. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses show that disciplinary backgrounds significantly affect teachers’ subject matter knowledge and pedagogy. Evaluations of effect sizes suggest that academic backgrounds can serve as useful proxies for teacher recruitment. The results also indicate that nature-revealing courses affect teachers’ subject matter knowledge and pedagogy.     

School English,literature and the knowledge-base question

This article takes up questions about knowledge and the school curriculum with respect to literary studies within subject English. Its intention is to focus on literary studies in English from the context of current waves of curriculum reform, rather than as part of the conversations primarily within the field of English, to raise questions about the knowledge agenda, and the knowledge-base agenda for teaching and teacher education. The selection of texts and form of study of literature within the English curriculum has long been an area of controversy. Without assuming a particular position on knowledge in this area, this article shows that important questions of what knowledge-base teachers are expected to bring to their work are elided both in current regulations and debates, and in research on ‘good teaching’ in this area. If ‘literary studies’ (as a discipline or university major) is itself an unstable and changing field, what kind of knowledge does a good English teacher bring to their work? This paper takes up these questions in the context of the Australian Curriculum and standards for teacher registration, but it also points to the way these issues about knowledge are of broader relevance for researchers and teacher education.     

Making the invisible visible: disciplinary literacy in secondary school classrooms

In Ireland, policy on literacy now aims to expand the role that post-primary teachers of all subjects have in developing students' literacy skills. This paper draws on data from a wider research study carried out in secondary schools in 2010 and focuses on the classroom support with disciplinary literacy provided by subject teachers for students who have literacy difficulties. A brief outline is provided of the context and perspectives informing the study as well as the research methods used. Findings are examined against the backdrop of policy developments for literacy at second level and within the context of wider policy change. Teachers' lack of professional knowledge, combined with barriers at wider system level, is identified as a significant challenge to pedagogical change at classroom level. Implications for policy implementation, for initial teacher education and for cultural change at school level are discussed. It is argued that literacy must be repositioned as a central aspect of subject pedagogy and teachers, as subject experts, supported in unpacking and sharing with students, the discourse practices and ways of viewing and communicating about the world that are characteristic of their academic disciplines.     

关于高师院校“学科教学论”发展的若干思考

“学科教学论”是高等师范院校非教育专业本科生的一门必修课,是研究学科教学理论及其应用的一门教育学科。“学科教学论”与课程论、教学论并列,同属于教育学的三级学科。“学科教学论”课程的建设,要从自身学科内容的优化和拓展性课程的开发两方面入手。“学科教学论”师资队伍的建设,要注重制定规划,分层培养;加强与其他相关学科的联系,加强与中小学的联系,形成集体优势;对“学科教学论”教师给予一定的政策倾斜等。     

A teacher competence development programme for supporting students’ reflection skills

The Teachers of Promise study has followed the work histories of 57 primary and secondary teachers who had been identified at the beginning of their third year of teaching as having the potential to make a significant contribution to the profession. Using data from surveys and interviews, this paper reports on what sustained or inhibited their initial commitment to and enthusiasm for ‘making a difference’, six years later, both in the classroom and in broader school leadership roles. Satisfaction with their day-to-day experiences in their schools was a particularly strong driver of teachers’ career decisions over time. Thirty-four teachers responded to survey items that were used to identify three different groups of teachers: a group of 10 primary school teachers with the highest levels of job satisfaction who were ‘fulfilling their promise’; a group of 21 primary and secondary teachers who were ‘persevering and coping’; and three teachers who were ‘detached and disengaged’. The group with the highest levels of job satisfaction taught in primary schools where they felt respected and valued, and supported to develop their teaching and leadership expertise. School leadership practices and school cultures in the other two groups diminished teachers’ overall job satisfaction and contribution to collective knowledge building in their schools. Almost all of the teachers had retained their commitment to students, to their current schools and to teaching as a career, including those with lower levels of satisfaction. Although these teachers reported ‘collegial’ relationships with their peers, individualistic school cultures, most often in secondary schools, impacted on their opportunities to learn with and from their colleagues. Few secondary school teachers felt appreciated, and included in school decision-making or had found it possible to combine high standards of classroom teaching with management responsibilities. The study indicates that while most promising teachers were still satisfied with teaching after nine years, relatively few were in schools where they were able to make the impact that had been predicted for them early in their careers.     

新课程改革背景下高中英语教学的思考

通过分析《普通高中英语课程标准》对教学提出的要求和新课程实施以来高中英语教学的现状,发现高中英语教学中存在诸多问题,教师对新课程理念的认同与其教学行为之间出现落差。教师条件性知识和实践性知识陈旧落后、新课程教学要求与高考终结性评价问存在矛盾是造成问题的主要原因。促进教师专业发展、完善评价机制是解决问题的主要对策。     

高中数学教师专业知识研究--基于吉林省数学教师的调查

教师专业发展必然需要教师专业知识的有力支撑。对高中数学教师专业知识进行的问卷调查和访谈发现：目前高中数学教师基本上较好地掌握了常用的教师专业知识,但也存在一些问题：对数学学科知识的关注范围过于狭窄;运用数学教学知识进行教学时偏向于被动;对数学课程标准的理解存在偏差。另外,研究还发现：数学教学知识的增长并非是持续的;不同层级的教师之间、不同类别学校中的教师之间,其差异主要体现在数学学科知识与数学教学知识。进而对数学教师教育提出相应建议：数学教师应适当拓展数学学科知识的关注范围;应依据调查数据加强数学教师教育培养计划的针对性;关于教师一般教育学知识的评价方式亟需改进等。     

The dialogic space offered by curriculum-making in the process of learning to teach,and the creation of a progressive knowledge-led curriculum

There is widespread system response to the perceived needs of education for twenty-first century, where learning-to-learn is privileged and schools are organised to prepare young people for work. One casualty of such skills-led teaching is deep thinking about curriculum questions and the knowledge contents of teaching in relation to the needs, motivations and experiential knowledge of students. In this paper we argue for greater conceptual clarity between curriculum and pedagogy, and between the worlds of children’s experience and disciplinary knowledge, in order to deepen teachers’ understanding of the practice of teaching. The paper shows how using the conceptual tools of curriculum making is key to becoming, and developing as a teacher. This paper supports subject specialism in teaching in a manner that respects the social and cultural capital of young people and their role in knowledge creation together with the emancipatory significance of gaining epistemic access to disciplinary knowledge.     

Curriculum Leadership and Management in Secondary Schools: A Hong Kong case study

Relatively little is known about how and by whom curriculum leadership and management occur inside secondary schools, especially in Asian contexts. This article aims to analyse curriculum decision-making in two academically effective secondary schools in Hong Kong. It employs qualitative methods to capture the contributions made by various school personnel, and in particular the principals, to curriculum leadership and management. Data for the two schools show that whilst neither of the principals plays a significant role in curriculum monitoring and innovation, the vice-principal (male), the senior teachers and teachers in one school were perceived to place more emphasis on curriculum monitoring and innovation than their counterparts in the other school. Whilst teachers in both schools shared high expectations for students' academic achievement, one subtle difference between them related to the pursuit of academic excellence. In one school, students did not exert much pressure on their teachers whereas in the other school, teachers felt they had to fulfil students' demands for good lesson preparation and take account of students' opinions of their teaching.     

Tradition,Authority and Disciplinary Practice in History Education

Abstract

The concepts of ‘tradition’ and ‘authority’ are generally understood to be problematical in history curriculum design. Drawing on MacIntyre’s account of disciplines as social practices, this article argues that, to the contrary, these are concepts that need to be incorporated into any curriculum theory that attempts to build a school subject on the foundations provided by an academic discipline. In history education, there is a strong consensus towards deriving the ideas of the history curriculum from the discipline of history, and this article argues that it is therefore necessary for history curriculum theory to account for the concepts of ‘tradition’ and ‘authority’ as they exist in disciplinary practice.     

Measures of Teachers' Workload

The measurement of teachers' workload has till now been subjective. Teachers feel that they have a great responsibility to their pupils and to society and their workload heavy, while non-teachers may have different views. This debate occurs even amongst teachers teaching different subjects and levels in a school as well as amongst teachers in different schools. A comparison of teachers' workload in different countries is also particularly difficult because of different class sizes, curriculum time, etc. It is therefore essential to provide a quantitative and objective measure for evaluating teachers' workload. This measure can then be used as a reference by school principals when allocating extra duties to teachers. It is also useful to education authorities when deploying teachers to various schools in centralized education systems.     

Analysis of job satisfaction of university professors from nine Chinese universities

Research on work life and job satisfaction of university professors is becoming an important research issue in the field of higher education. This study used questionnaires administered to 1 770 teachers from different levels, types, and academic fields of Chinese universities to investigate job satisfaction among university professors and the relationship between job satisfaction of university professors and the organizational characteristics of the university. The job satisfaction of Chinese university professors includes six dimensions: career development and school management, teaching and research services, salary, benefits and logistical services, professional reputation, teaching and research facilities, and the work itself. The overall job satisfaction levels are close to average, with salary and benefits receiving the lowest level of satisfaction. The organizational characteristics of universities, such as school type, school level, academic field, organizational climate, evaluation orientation, and school management, all have significant effects on the overall job satisfaction of university professors. The organizational climate and school level affect all six dimensions of job satisfaction among university professors.     

基于实践共同体模式的学科教学论教师专业能力提升策略

学科教学论教师专业能力发展需借助同侪互动的引导和支持。目前学科教学论教师专业能力发展存在重国外理论照搬、轻本土实践应答;重教学理论研究、轻学科实践反思;重学科属性、轻学科融合;重单向指导、轻双向构建;重核心成员主导、轻新手教师参与等问题。学科教学论教师实践共同体模式具有共享愿景导向性、学科实践问题优先性、基于对学科和跨学科的共同思考、多元主体的身份构建和认同以及实践效益的整体性等特征。研究指出,要以融合、创新为理念,立足本土学科教学实践;以课题、课程、课堂为载体,实现理论与实践互鉴互证;以基础教育研究中心为平台,构建开放式跨学科发展模式;以合作、探究、对话、反思为手段,达到主体间双向交融。     

九年一贯制学校的教师适应性问题研究

目的:了解九年一贯制学校教师的适应性现状.方法:采用自编的开放式问卷和个案访谈的形式对成都市石室双楠实验学校的不同性别、教龄和学历等的教师的适应性的现状进行研究.结果:1.九年一贯制学校教师的适应性总体普遍不高,特别是在教学内容和教学管理方面,超过50%的教师感觉完全不适应;2.男教师比女教师的适应性好;3.教龄越长的...