Community,Towards Dialogue: A Self-Study of Online Teacher Preparation for Special Education

ABSTRACT

Online teacher education is experiencing significant growth worldwide. One of the major challenges accompanying this growth is that many teacher educators find themselves underprepared and under pressure to design online teacher education courses that reflect their beliefs about what constitutes high-quality teacher preparation practice. Further, teacher educators in disciplines such as special education face additional challenges in developing understandings about the legalities of writing and implementing disability service plans and performing additional testing. In this self-study of online special education teacher education practice, two collaborators worked to identify strategies and practices for professional community building in a class about teaching reading to students with disabilities. The findings highlight issues of teacher educator authority and presence online against other needs to model collegiality and promote scholarly thinking. Researchers in online teaching may find insight into both the cognitive and contextual concerns as they work to enhance online teacher education while they plan their own investigations.     

Educator Perceptions and Use of Technology in South African Schools

ABSTRACT

South African schools experience diverse access to educational technology. Further, South African educators have limited opportunities to attend educator professional development workshops focused on technology integration. These differences can have a tremendous impact on students’ educational experiences and educators’ levels of self-efficacy toward implementing technology in their school settings. To provide further support and training opportunities to educators in South African township schools, administrators are able to partner with nongovernmental organizations and institutions of higher education. This article provides an overview of South African educational contexts and how partnerships can be formed to provide educator support to integrate educational technology in township schools.     

Teacher Educators: hidden professionals?

The pace of change in today's society means that there is an ongoing need for teachers to learn, have new knowledge and use new pedagogical approaches to meet the needs of their pupils. For many teachers, this requires redefining their identity as teachers and what ‘teaching’ means in 21st century learning environments. These changes also require teachers to be supported in learning to ‘teach’ in different ways that are relevant to their own individual needs and to the contexts in which they work throughout their career. In this article, it is argued that a more integrated and collaborative approach to teacher education is needed with better understanding of those who take up the roles of teacher educator across a teacher's career. With a particular emphasis on ‘teacher educators’ working in school to support teachers' career-long professional learning it is argued that currently many do not recognise themselves as teacher educators nor are they recognised by those they work with as teacher educators. Drawing on an empirical study carried out with mentors in schools in Scotland, it is suggested that these teacher educators may be ‘unrecognised’ and remain ‘hidden professionals’ because of the identities they construct for themselves, the values and priorities that they or others attach to their roles or because of the institutional structures and cultures in which they work. It is concluded that it will be difficult to recognise and value these ‘hidden teacher educators’ and the distinctive contribution they can make to teachers' career-long professional learning without further clarification by them and others of the roles and responsibilities they hold.     

Understanding the Complexity of Becoming a Teacher Educator: Experience,belonging, and practice within a professional learning community

This article reports a literature review of self-studies by beginning teacher educators examining their experiences of the transition from classroom teaching to teacher educator. The authors conclude that becoming a teacher educator involves several complex and challenging tasks: examining beliefs and values grounded in personal biography, including those associated with being a former schoolteacher; navigating the complex social and institutional contexts in which they work; and developing a personal pedagogy of teacher education that enables construction of a new professional identity as a teacher educator. This research provides beginning teacher educators with a reference point for understanding their personal and professional transition to university-based teacher education. It also provides teacher education faculty and administrators with key information about how the transition from teacher to teacher educator can be supported and enhanced within professional learning communities.     

Not by the hair of your chinny chin‐chin,I'm not so sure that we're letting you in

Abstract

It's no good telling people what you want if what you want is for them to know without your telling them.(Tannen, 1986, p.57)

Deborah Tannen cites conversations between men and women to explore how metamessages (rapport, directness/indirectness, connectedness/avoidance) in communication impact our relationships for the better and often for worse. In many ways, this dance of communication plays out in the female mentorship of males in early childhood preservice experiences. The metamessages of females impact their effectiveness in mentorship and impacts how males look upon their career choice and their own sense of efficacy to carry out their roles as early childhood educators.

Gender bias subtly weaves its ways into the fabric of professional ethos of educational practice. The female ethos in early childhood education often acts as a finely woven screen that makes it difficult for men to open the door to try out,let alone enter the profession. The invisible questioning screens of Do males care, notice detail, do they clearly see children's needs, do they understand the female way?need to be explored so that supportive mentorship can be consciously extended to male preservice educators. This article tells the stories of two male preservice educators and their struggles to open the door of the female ethos in their clinical experiences. Their stories point to the idea that we still have a long way to go to support males in their initial journey to become early childhood educators. © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.     

Training Culturally Competent Social Workers

ABSTRACT

Many social work educators have expressed a commitment to including information aboutdiverse populations in their teaching yet this is often easier said than done. Limited class time is available to cover many important issues and in spite of the best of intentions, diversity issues often receive inadequate attention. In particular, content on Native American people is often left out of the social work curriculum. Specific recommendations are made about how social work educators can teach students to work effectively with Native people. Suggestions on what content should be taught, how it can be taught, and where it can be integrated into the social work curriculum are included.     

Learning to Coach in Practice-Based Teacher Education: A Self-Study

In some forms of practice-based teacher education, one important task for the teacher educator is to undertake in-the-moment coaching during rehearsals of practice. However, being such a coach is a new role for many teacher educators and requires a different skill set to other forms of teacher educator practice. In addition, there is little literature to which teacher educators can turn when seeking to address the problem of enactment in this context. This article seeks to address this gap in the literature. It reports a self-study undertaken by one mathematics teacher educator as he learned to coach pre-service teachers on the fly, while in turn they learned to orchestrate whole-class mathematical discussions. It seeks to illustrate how the process of journaling can support the journey of discovery that is the development of new practice. Through consulting the literature and story-telling, a picture is painted of how the educator addressed early concerns such as “what is a coach supposed to do?” and “what should a coach pause a rehearsal to talk about?” and began to master coaching – work that was never routine, but rather situated, adaptive, and responsive. The stories draw from a personal journal of field notes and reflections from such events as student rehearsals, lesson conferences, team meetings, reading student work, and professional reading. Journal entries from 12 rehearsal cycles over four years were consulted.     

Preschool + school + communication = What for educator relationships?

Communication between educators in preschool and school settings has been promoted consistently in research literature and policy as a practice to enhance children’s transition to school. Underlying the practice are the assumptions that communication between educators is (a) a way of building on children’s learning and responding to their diverse needs and interests as they start school and (b) a means of developing positive relationships between educators. Whilst it is an advocated practice, there has been little research about the consequences of preschool–school communication or exploration of the ways in which the practice might support positive transition experiences. This paper specifically addresses what happens for educators as a result of preschool–school interactions. The communication experiences of preschool and school educators reported in an online questionnaire provide important insights into the impact of intersetting communications, particularly on educator relationships. Most outcomes for relationships between educators in preschool and school settings were reported to be positive. However, the results contest the notion that preschool–school communication automatically results in the development of positive relationships; relationships which support collaboration between educators as children start school.     

From school teacher to university lecturer: Illuminating the journey from the classroom to the university for two arts educators

This article aims to provide insights into the journey of two artist teachers who currently work as arts educators at the university level. Narrative inquiry has been used to discuss how the arts have informed their identities and subsequent transition into their current roles. The identities of artist, artist teacher and arts educator are considered in relation to how these have informed and continue to inform their teaching. The unique characteristics of those who work in the arts are also explored and provide important understandings in relation to the mentoring and support required for educators who work in this context.     

“I learned by watching my mentor.” Nurturing teacher leadership with an induction program

ABSTRACT

How do educators learn to be teacher leaders? In this qualitative survey research study, we explored perceptions of 227 former induction program participants concerning teacher leadership (65% response rate). Methodologically, we conducted qualitative coding of open-ended survey data. Defined teacher leadership, participants often referred to their mentor. They reported currently serving in a wide variety of teacher leadership roles. They suggested the induction program and their mentors nurtured them to become teacher leaders. Examining the data, we conclude that during the program mentors demonstrate to novices teacher leader characteristics, as they share best practices, model professionalism, and offer support. They normalize that leadership is simply a part of good teaching. When the participants graduate and work in classrooms, many draw upon their induction experiences and emerge as teacher leaders. Data suggest that to increase teacher leadership, more comprehensive, full-time mentoring induction programs are warranted.     

Correlates of affectionate and angry behavior in child care educators of preschool-aged children

The present study marks the first empirical exploration designed to investigate factors related specifically to child care educators’ levels of affection and anger. Based on the presumption that their affectionate and angry behaviors would have major implications for the development of the children for whom they care, the aim of the present investigation is to provide the groundwork for identifying what factors are associated with educator warmth and anger in child care settings.Several categories of variables were used to predict affectionate and angry caregiver behavior. These included educator characteristics, such as training and experience, personal resources such as well-being, self-esteem and social support, the work environment as measured by regulatable characteristics, wages and global quality, and the caregiver’s perceptions and opinions about her work. A multi-method, multi-respondent approach was employed, including researcher observations, educator self-report questionnaires, and objective data collected from directors and from Québec’s official licensing agency.The findings from this study suggest that different sets of variables are related to affection and anger. The work environment had a greater relation with caregivers’ affectionate behavior, whereas more internal, negative perceptions were linked to the expression of anger in the classroom. Though educator training did not predict anger or affection, training did in fact become very important to the quality of the interactions the educators had with the children when other risk factors were present.     

Cognitive-Training Programs for Older Adults: What Are they and Can they Enhance Mental Fitness?

ABSTRACT

People are living longer, and in better physical health, than at any other time in history. But what of their mental health? Does it decline with age, offsetting the gains made in physical health and longevity? Can it be maintained? Can it improve? A review of the literature suggests that cognitive decline is not universal, pervasive, or irreversible. It also demonstrates that older adults can benefit from cognitive training. The challenge, however, is to provide such training in ways that are acceptable to older adults. The answer is to be found, firstly, in research that identifies best practices for cognitive skill development in ecologically valid activities involving older adults, psychologists, and adult educators. These best practices can then serve to assist educators to design continuing education programs and other activities that are readily accessible, affordable, and enjoyable.     

Engaging the Student in the Field Instruction Relationship

Abstract

BSW and MSW students' evaluations of their field instructors and these individuals' use of various supervisory skills and assignments were assessed early in the field placement. Skills that directly enhanced students' learning in the field were most influential. Supervisory activities that introduced students to the agency and what would be expected of them were particularly helpful. Differences in first-time and second-year students' reactions suggest that students' learning needs vary, based on their prior experience with and understanding of the field. The findings also suggest the need for training to help field instructors make the transition from social work practitioner to social work educator.     

TRANSFORMING COLIABORATION BETWEEN PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND ONE EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM

Abstract

For 10 years a group of early childhood teacher educators in Oregon have been developing a portfolio articulation system that students can take with them as they move through the educational sequence from high school through university. This article reports on the group's efforts to determine content of such a portfolio and how those contents should be scored. The group based their recommendations on commonalities among programs and samples of students’ work. The article also describes the contents of an articulation portfolio which includes evidence of and scores for the student's ability to observe and record children's behavior, plan for instruction, develop a philosophy of early childhood education and teach children. In addition, there is discussion of what was learned during this lengthy enterprise including the realization that articulation needs to respond to what students know and are able to do, not what courses they have taken. Readers are also given information on how to obtain a copy of the portfolio guidelines.     

From Teacher to Teacher Educator: Reframing knowledge in practice

This paper concludes our report of an investigation of two beginning teacher educators making the transition from classroom teacher to university-based teacher educator. The authors combined case study and self-study of teacher education practices to investigate features of the institutional context they encountered, the knowledge they employed in their decision-making, and the merging of their former identities as classroom teachers with their new identities as teacher educators. Our initial paper described the theoretical framework, methodology, and two categories of findings—institutional context and shifting role identification. This paper builds on those insights by addressing the frames of understanding and knowledge employed in this transition, and how these frames informed the decisions made in the arena of teacher education practice. We also explore the implications of these findings by discussing the need for support as educators make the transition from teacher to teacher educator.     

Education--a joint task for parents,kindergarten teachers and kindergarten student teachers

The aim of this research was to find out what kindergarten teachers, parents and kindergarten student teachers think about education and about themselves as educators. The basic question was: what kind of similarities and differences are there between these groups of educators? The sample consisted of 21 parents, 28 kindergarten teachers and 37 kindergarten student teachers voluntarily taking part in the study. The data were collected using thematic interviews and an open-ended questionnaire. The approach used to analyse the material was phenomenography. The results show that the groups of educators between themselves had quite similar conceptions of education and of being educators of small children. However, some differences were also found. The division of the conceptions of education was: education as a societal function or socialization, education as a way of supporting a child's development, education as care, and education as work and action. All groups, but especially parents, regarded education primarily as a societal function. All three groups paid rather little attention to education as a function of becoming a human being. Education as a function of care occurred in the conceptions of some educators. The conceptions of being an educator were linked to characteristic features of educators, to working with children, to commitment and self-confidence at work and to demands on and responsibility of an educator. In particular, parents paid attention to the demands and responsibility of being an educator. Kindergarten teachers and kindergarten student teachers emphasized working with children and commitment to education.     

Teacher educators modelling their teachers?

The teacher educator is always also a teacher, and as a role model may have an important impact on student teachers’ views on teaching. However, what is the impact of these teacher educator’s own role models on their teaching views and practices? Do teacher educators simply imitate the positive role models and reject the bad? It is already clear that teachers and teacher educators learn more than how to play a role from their role models. Becoming a teacher or a teacher educator is a long‐term process of developing a professional identity, with role models being just one of the contributing factors. This study of 13 teacher educators addresses the impact of schoolteacher role models as part of the socialisation process of becoming a teacher.     

Evaluating the quality of peer and self evaluations as measures of student contributions to group projects

ABSTRACT

Educators in higher education commonly use peer and self evaluations to help assess student performance on group projects. Although these evaluations provide multiple benefits, many educators are wary of using them due to concerns about their quality. This study addresses three questions debated in the literature regarding the quality of these assessments. How much do students differentiate among peer contributions through their ratings? How reliable are peer ratings? How much agreement exists between peer and self ratings? Although these questions have been addressed to varying degrees in past work, their answers have been far from settled. While many studies focus on just one of the questions, this study’s data make it possible to address all three questions for the same group of students as well as examine each question by student performance level. The evaluations assessed in this study were completed by a large number of students under conditions associated with obtaining more valid and reliable ratings. Overall, the results provide support for using peer and self evaluations to help assess student contributions to group projects. Peer ratings were largely reliable as group members generally agreed on the scores given to their peers. In addition, most students differentiated among group member contributions through their ratings. Students also tended to rate themselves higher than their peers rated them. This study has implications for how peer and self evaluations can be most effectively used by educators to measure student performance in group work.     

Building Bridges: A Cross-Disciplinary Peer-Coaching Self-Study

ABSTRACT

Cross-disciplinary self-studies and peer coaching have separately been shown to offer teacher educators meaningful professional development opportunities. However, the teacher educator literature has said little about combining cross-disciplinary self-studies with peer coaching. In this article, the authors report a two-year cross-disciplinary peer-coaching self-study by experienced teacher educators, one from English Language Arts and one from Mathematics Education. The purpose of the self-study was to examine the connections that bridge the two disciplines and the differences between disciplines that offer new perspectives. Results revealed important process connections involving standards for practice and academic vocabulary. The self-study also illuminated meaningful new perspectives about what questions are asked during whole-class discussion and how data is generated during student collaboration. This study demonstrates the benefits of combining cross-disciplinary teacher educator collaboration with peer coaching and has implications for individual teacher educators and teacher education programs.