Valuing epistemic diversity in educational research: an agenda for improving research impact and initial teacher education

Research in education draws upon a wide range of epistemological traditions due in part to the wide range of problems that are investigated. While this diversity might be considered a strength of the field, it also makes researchers who work within it vulnerable to being divided into those worth listening to and those who should be ignored by ‘end-users’. These people and groups who are interested in the outcomes of educational research, such as policy makers and system providers, increasingly expect research findings to be accessible, and to inform questions of the ‘what works’ variety. Under this imperative, research processes that elaborate the complexity of educational problems, and the provisional, partial and contingent nature of solutions, tend to be dismissed as unnecessarily complex and inaccessible. Epistemological diversity in educational research also presents challenges for inducting teacher education students into the profession. We outline some of these challenges in a discussion of epistemological diversity in research in education. We also describe differences in how research traditions construct educational problems. We argue that crossing epistemic boundaries is a necessary condition of the educational practices of teachers and of those preparing to join their ranks. We compare and contrast knowledge-producing processes in education and identify the repertoires of capabilities and habits of mind associated with different epistemologies or ‘angles’. We suggest that the impact of educational research, including its contribution to teacher education programs, policy and public debate about issues in education, might be enhanced through a heuristic suite of four angles that are each understood to be necessary but not sufficient on their own. We provide a brief worked example of how such a heuristic might be applied to make sense of the diverse bodies of research regarding student engagement in school.     

Towards diversity in teacher education: teacher preparation of immigrant teachers

Teacher education programs have been slow in responding to the increasing diversity in education systems and tertiary institutions. In this paper, we focus on the development of teacher education programs for immigrant teachers, drawing on interview and other data from a study of 110 teachers in programs at the Faculty of Education, University of Sydney, Australia. We argue that for teacher education programs to respond to the growing diversity they need four components: (i) ways to increase access for students from minority backgrounds; (ii) appropriate delivery modes and structures; (iii) inclusive curriculum along with a range of support programs for students; and (iv) incorporation of equity provisions into institutional structures.

Les programmes de formation des maîtres ont été lents à s'adapter à la diversité croissante des systèmes éducatifs et des institutions d'enseignement supérieur. Cette présentation est focalisée sur le développement des programmes de formation des maîtres ciblant les professeurs immigrés; elle est basée sur des interviews et autres données provenant d'une enquête effectuée auprès de 110 professeurs inscrits dans les programmes de la Faculté d'Education, à l'université de Sydney, en Australie. Notre argument est que si l'on veut que les programmes de formation des maîtres reflètent cette diversité croissante, quatre éléments sont nécessaires : (i) que l'accès à ces programmes soit facilité pour les étudiants appartenant à des minorités; (ii) que des structures et stratégies appropriées soient utilisées; (iii) que les cursus eux‐mêmes soient modifiés pour convenir à ces minorités et incluent une panoplie de programmes de soutien; et (iv) que des mesures égalitaires soient introduites dans les institutions au niveau des structures.

Los programas de educación para profesores han sido lentos para responder a la creciente diversidad en sistemas educacionales e instituciones terciarias. En este trabajo, nosotros enfocamos la atención en el desarrollo de programas educacionales para profesores inmigrantes, obtenidos de entrevistas y otros datos de un estudio de 110 profesores en programas en la Facultad de Educación de la Universidad de Sydney, Australia. Nosotros planteamos que para que los programas de educación para profesores respondan al aumento de la diversidad ellos requieren cuatro componentes: (i) se necesitan maneras de incrementar el acceso para estudiantes de origen de grupos minoritarios; (ii) se necesitan modos apropiados de distribución y estructuras; (iii) inclusive un currículo junto con un rango de programas de apoyo para estudiantes y, (iv) la incorporación de provisiones equitativas en las estructuras institucionales.

Ausbildungsprogramme für Lehrer haben nur langsam auf die wachsende ethnische Diversität in Ausbildungssystemen und pädagogischen Hochschulen reagiert. In diesem Referat konzentrieren wir uns auf die Entwicklung von Ausbildungsprogrammen für ausländische Lehrer und verwerten dabei Material aus Interviews sowie Angaben aus einer Studie von 110 Lehrern in Ausbildungsprogrammen an der pädagogischen Fakultät der Universität in Sydney, Australien. Wir argumentieren, dass vier Faktoren notwendig sind, damit diese Ausbildungsprogramme auf die wachsende ethnische Diversität eingehen: (i) benötigen wir Wege zu Erleichterung des Zugangs für Studenten, die einer ethnische Minorität angehören; (ii) angemessene Lehrmethoden und‐strukturen; (iii) ferner einen umfassenden Studien‐ und Lehrplan mit verschiedenen Hilfsprogrammen für Studenten, und (iv) die Eingliederung von Gleichheitsmaßnahmen in institutionelle Strukturen.     

Consequential research designs in research on teacher education

Collaboration between researchers and educators in conducting intervention research is increasingly common, as such collaboration is assumed to benefit educational practice. Alternatively, in this study, we explore the consequences of such collaboration on research quality. Based on our analysis of a year-long collaboration in formative intervention research, we find that educators experienced their own position as agent, the researcher's position as learner and the research itself as integrated, as being different from previous experiences in research. The educators indicate that these differences are consequential for their engagement in the research. We discuss how this, in turn, might benefit research quality.     

Exploring diversity through ethos in initial teacher education

This paper considers whether there is value in introducing student teachers to schools of different ethos as part of their initial teacher education. A 2-year study of undergraduate post-primary student teachers at a university college in Northern Ireland reveals that encounters with schools of different ethos can help student teachers to understand differences between schools and their visions of education, as well as correcting misunderstandings and challenging stereotypes. It is argued that as a result of experiencing diverse examples of ethos, student teachers may also be helped to understand the complexity of schools as organisations and to position themselves and their professional practice within wider debates about the aims of education and schools as communities of practice.     

Transformational practice: critical teacher research in pre-service teacher education

This article traces the experiences of three pre-service teachers as they engaged in teacher research as part of their teacher education program and considers how teacher research might disrupt dominant paradigms that aim to de-contextualize teaching and offer one-size-fits-all solutions to address inequities. In particular, the article examines: the role of the teacher’s personal and academic history in the design of their teacher research projects; how their research worked to disrupt and complicate classroom cultures and practices; and the ways in which the pre-service teachers interpreted their research in light of new contexts during their first year of teaching. This work has critical implications in an era when teacher education programs are under attack, including: the value of drawing on pre-service teachers' lived experiences as an entry point into inquiry; creating highly localized inquiries; and positioning novice teachers as knowledgeable practitioners who are able to share research with colleagues.     

教师素质与教育研究

一、教师应具备的素质 教师在人类社会文化的继承和发展中起着承上启下的桥梁作用.只有从根本上提高教师的素质,建立一支现代化的教师队伍,才能完成培养21世纪合格人才的宏伟工程.有关学者对于现代教师的素质作了如下概述:     

Implications of research for mathematics teacher education

This paper reviews the research areas considered to be significant for mathematics teacher education. The research is reviewed in several sections: construing children's thinking, affective ideas, teaching methods, the mathematics classroom, and curriculum analyses. In the final section ways of using ideas from this research are discussed. The review seeks to reflect recent research developments and to indicate promising avenues for future study.