Teacher capabilities in a multicultural educational environment: an analysis of the impact of a professional development project

With more programmes being taught through English in non-Anglophone contexts, higher education lecturers are faced with new challenges. This article briefly presents a professional development initiative carried out at departmental level as an intervention for all English Medium Instruction lecturers. In order to assess the effect of such an intervention, a mix of different data sets are used, moving from self-assessment by participants to observations of individual teaching practices in the classrooms. It is shown how corroboration of surveys and observation reports in an explicit feedback template can be used to evidence the value of the intervention in context.     

Making educational development and change sustainable: Insights from complexity theory

This article considers the challenge of sustainable change and development in education from the perspective of complexity theory. Complexity theory’s concept of emergence implies that, given a significant degree of complexity in a particular environment, new properties and behaviours emerge that are not necessarily contained in the essence of the constituent elements, or easily able to be predicted from a knowledge of initial conditions. These concepts of emergent phenomena from a critical mass, associated with notions of lock-in, path dependence, and inertial momentum, contribute to a perspective on continuity and change that indicates what conditions might need to be in place for the emergence of sustainable, positive, system-wide change and development in education.     

Developing and implementing a robust and flexible framework for the evaluation and impact of educational development in higher education in Chile

ABSTRACT

This article describes the development of an evaluation and impact framework to assess the effectiveness of educational innovations. It can be utilized within a single program, as well as at institutional and national levels. While it is contextualized in a Chilean university, it is argued that it is widely applicable as it is informed by international best practice.

The rationale that informed the development of the evaluation framework is described and is illustrated using two programs: Faculty Learning Communities; and Student Learning Assistants. These demonstrate how the framework can be customized utilizing indicators and outcomes relevant to specific programs and stakeholders.     

The development and psychometric properties of an educational development impact questionnaire

The purpose of this study was to develop and provide psychometric evidence of the Educational Development Impact Questionnaire (EDIQ) for evaluating complex outcomes of multifaceted educational development work within centres of teaching and learning. Our study addresses the need for a user-friendly and psychometrically sound survey instrument adaptable to differing higher education contexts. Our outcomes framework, mapping the intended short- and medium-term outcomes of our centre’s educational development activities, provided the necessary framework on which to create survey items. Scores from 267 instructors from a research-intensive university provided the data for examining the EDIQ’s initial factor structure using exploratory factor analysis. We justify our use of two different cut-scores to generate two models of factor structures. Factors common to both models are instructor growth, scholarship of teaching and learning, technology integration, impact on students, and knowledge enhancement. We discuss how the models provide different opportunities for assessing short-term and medium-term outcomes over time and the usefulness of the EDIQ beyond the current study context.     

Demonstrating the impact of educational development: The case of a course design collaborative

While universities hold expectations that new colleagues demonstrate high levels of expertise, many recently graduated PhDs are under-prepared for their teaching roles. This case study assessed the impact of an institutionally sponsored, collaborative course design initiative on the professional learning of early-career academics in a research-intensive university in Canada. The initiative was framed as educational development: the integration of faculty, instructional, curriculum, and organizational development in a holistic approach to professional learning. The case documents the impact of a 5-day workshop on course design and teaching complemented with three cycles of classroom observation and feedback, and a monthly discussion group on teaching. Across 10 participants, three strong patterns of results emerged with respect to teaching beliefs, practices and confidence about teaching.     

教育理论研究向教育实践活动通达的障碍消除

教育理论研究能否顺利地通达教育实践活动，其主要原因并不在于教育理论研究的个人意愿及其科研成果的品质，而在于教育体制的开放程度和理性水平。实质性地进行教育体制改革，使教育成为体现教育主体性、体现教育应然的本质和宗旨、张扬教育应然的精神和品格的真正的教育，教育理论研究向教育实践通达才具备坚实的思想和制度基础。     

Ethically scaling up interventions in educational development: a case for collaborative multi-sited ethnographic research

Educational interventions are often administered at scale in diverse settings as part of international development programmes. Their implementation is subject to a linear process that begins with finding out ‘what works’ at a local level, frequently through the use of randomised controlled trials, and continues with rolling out the intervention to the whole population at a national or even transnational level. This process often fails to consider the role cultural, political, and historical factors play in the perceived success of the local intervention, which can compromise both the impact and the ethics of at-scale implementation. To help address this issue, this paper argues for a definition of scalability that incorporates the ethics of the practice of scaling. It points to the potential of collaborative multi-sited ethnographic research to identify nuanced understandings of the different ethics systems endogenous to individual sites of implementation, in lieu of the universalising notions of ethics that are embedded in mainstream, linear notions of scalability. In so doing, it makes the case for multi-sited critical ethnography as a methodology of choice in researching the scalability of interventions in the context of development projects in the ‘Global South’.     

Identity formation in educational settings: A contextualized view of theory and research in practice

In this concluding article of the special issue entitled “Identity Formation in Educational Settings”, we explicate the notion of identity as an integrative concept, discuss its growing popularity in the social sciences, and point to its special significance to education in contemporary society. Following an Eriksonian psychosocial approach and sociocultural emphasis, we look at the process of identity formation as a product of interrelatedness between the context and the individual person, and underscore the interaction between developmental and learning processes. We draw examples from the studies in this collection to highlight these conceptual relationships, as well as to contribute insights from the different research questions and modes of inquiry into the practice of co-construction of identity and knowledge in a variety of school contexts. We conclude with a call for the promotion of practice, research and theory in the emerging domain of identity formation in educational settings.     

论邓小平教育理论的价值导向

邓小平在其教育理论中，提出了许多新的思想观点，这些思想观点对于我们确立新的教育价值目标，选择新的教育价值取向，实施新的教育价值追求，进行新的教育价值评价，从而形成新的教育价值观，发挥了极为重要的导向作用。     

Conceptualizing educational leadership in an academic development program

Promoting the development of educational leadership in higher education is essential for strengthening the quality of teaching and learning. Additional research is needed to conceptualize educational leadership, especially within informal roles. We analysed how faculty members in an academic development program conceptualized educational leadership. Five key characteristics emerged that inform the development of educational leadership capacity in postsecondary contexts: affective qualities, mentoring and empowering, action-orientation, teaching excellence, and research and scholarship. Three characteristics of academic programs aimed at developing educational leadership were also identified: funding and resources to implement a change initiative, building interdisciplinary communities, and embracing identity.     

Teacher development in advanced educational technology

Advanced educational technology promises to improve science teaching and learning. To achieve the posited outcomes, however, teachers must have access to, know how to, have the skills to, and want to use the proposed advanced educational technologies in their teaching. In response, for the past eight years with support from the National Science Foundation, BSCS has conductedENLIST Micros — a teacher development to help science teachers improve their use of microcomputers.ENLIST Micros has three phases — Phase one (1984–1986): BSCS designed, tested, and producedENLIST Micros (Ellis and Kuerbis, 1987, 1989) teacher development materials (text, video, and tutorial software) for helping science teachers improve their use of educational technology. Phase two (1986–1989): BSCS designed, developed, tested, and disseminated a staff development model for helping science teachers integrate educational technology into instruction. Phase three (1989–1992): BSCS established Teacher Development Centers to implement theENLIST Micros teacher development materials and staff development model with science teachers throughout the United States.ENLIST Micros has served more than 1500 science teachers in 15 states. Teachers who have participated in the program have improved their knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy about computer usage and have improved their use of microcomputers in their science courses. Furthermore, as part of the project, BSCS has described the implementation process and has developed recommendations to support improvements in the use of educational technology in science programs.     

从劳动价值论到社会主义财富论

马克思的劳动价值论是在对工业化初期的资本主义英国进行批判分析过程中建立起来的，深化对马克思主义劳动价值论的研究和认识，应不拘泥于理论教条，而应当结合国情，与时俱进，建立社会主义财富论，这不会导致对劳动价值论的否定。     

重建学校教育评价的价值基础——从“生活—需要”论到“生存—需要”论

当下学校教育评价实践中存在着诸多令人担忧的问题。各种问题产生的根源在于教育评价的价值基础,解决问题的出路在于重建教育评价的价值基础,即从“生活—需要”论到“生存—需要”论。以“生存—需要”论为价值基础的教育评价,体现了当代价值哲学的基本精神,适应了学校教育改革和发展的要求,可以解决教育评价中存在的诸多问题,真正实现教育评价的目的功能。     

Distributional effects of educational improvements: Are we using the wrong model?

Measuring the incidence of public spending in education requires an intergenerational framework distinguishing between what current and future generations—that is, parents and children—give and receive. In standard distributional incidence analysis, households are assumed to receive a benefit equal to what is spent on their children enrolled in the public schooling system and, implicitly, to pay a fee proportional to their income. We show that, in an intergenerational framework, this is equivalent to assuming perfectly altruistic individuals, in the sense of the dynastic model, and perfect capital markets. But in practice, credit markets are imperfect and poor households cannot borrow against the future income of their children. We show that under such circumstances, standard distributional incidence analysis may greatly over-estimate the progressivity of public spending in education: educational improvements that are progressive in the long-run steady state may actually be regressive for the current generation of poor adults. This is especially true where service delivery in education is highly inefficient—as it is in poor districts of many developing countries—so that the educational benefits received are relatively low in comparison with the cost of public spending. Our results have implications for both policy measures and analytical approaches.     

过程哲学的视角:教育理论缘何脱离教育实践

在过程哲学的视野中，教育理论与实践脱离的原因主要有教育中“具体性误置的谬误”、教育理论的抽象层级性、实践性教育理论与基础性教育理论研究的混淆以及教育研究者的主观性介入等四个方面。这几个方面使得教育理论本质上不是完整、具体的教育事实的反映，从而导致教育理论与实践之间存在着难以逾越的距离。     

An evaluation study on the educational value of teaching practicum in secondary schools

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the educational value of teaching practicum in secondary schools. For this purpose, on the basis of literature review and interviews, three evaluation criteria for measuring educational value of teaching practicum are constructed as follows: (1) practical teaching competence, (2) readiness for teacher, and (3) maturity in character. A total of 29 pre-service teachers in the College of Education at Seoul National University in South Korea participated voluntarily in this study, and their practical teaching competence, readiness for teacher, and maturity in character were measured twice before and after teaching practicum. As a result, the teaching practicum had significantly improved pre-service teachers’ practical teaching competence, readiness for teacher, and maturity in character. In other words, teaching practicum increases the educational value. This study provides a conceptual framework and three instruments for measuring the educational value of many other teaching practicums. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 8th International Conference on Education Research, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, October 23–25, 2007.     

A study of participatory action research as professional development for educators in areas of educational disadvantage

The main aim of this article is to explore the ways in which teacher educators can improve levels of reflection in postgraduate student teachers. The author argues that postgraduate student teachers are able to reflect on their practice in schools, and that the insights gained are useful in clarifying their own beliefs about teaching and learning. The outcome of such reflection at an early stage of their career may have implications for their ability to engage with the development opportunities made available to them as they move through their teaching careers. Using a qualitative approach, data from the learning journals and reflective writing assignments of student teachers, and a focus group interview, are examined in order to evaluate students' ability to engage in reflective writing at various stages over a 1 year course. The support given to students over the course of the year is examined with a view to evaluating its impact on students' abilities to reflect on their practice and their own learning. A number of recommendations are made for possible improvements to supporting student teachers in this important area of work.     

Educology: The theory of educational practice

The relationship between psychology and education may be expressed in terms of two general models: the traditional hierarchical model, according to which psychology is the “parent” discipline; and a parallel model, in which the relationship between “pure” theory and its application is metaphoric rather than paradigmatic. The hierarchical model, however, does not hold even for such a “tight” area as behavior modification, let alone for educational practice in general.Educational practice, as a professional enterprise, should be guided by a consistent set of constructs taken from the practitioner's universe of discourse. The professionalization of education has been delayed because of attempts, mostly vain, to guide practice by applying constructs derived from other disciplines. Other disciplines, notably psychology, can be useful for education but in a metaphoric sense only. “Educology” is suggested as a convenient term for the set of constructs that should give coherence to educational decision-making.     

A heuristic model for tailoring teacher development to educational reforms: Focusing on ambiguity and conflict generation

This paper aims to contribute to the theorisation of effective teacher development (TD) provision in a reform context. Based on a literature review, the paper identifies key reform features, i.e., ambiguity and conflict generation, that shape teachers' engagement with pedagogic reforms and suggests a framework for designing TD programmes that address reform-specific needs. It then explores the utility of this heuristic framework through an in-depth case study of implementation of, and perceptions about, eight reforms in two schools in Hong Kong. The case study confirmed that customising the TD provision to perceived reform characteristics could contribute to teachers' positive perceptions of and experience with reforms.     

Promoting effective teacher-feedback: from theory to practice through a multiple component trajectory for professional development

This study describes an evaluation of a theory-based trajectory for professional development called FeTiP (Feedback-Theory into Practice) that aims to have an observable effect on teacher classroom behavior. FeTiP is a multicomponent trajectory for professional development and combines several types of interventions. Its goal is to help teachers expand their feedback behavior in the classroom to provide more, and more effective (i.e. learning-enhancing), feedback. We first describe the foundation of FeTiP, with a central focus on how classroom behavior can be influenced by a multicomponent trajectory of professional development, as this is often a major aim in initiatives for the professional development of teachers but is the most difficult to establish. We describe the effects of FeTiP on the feedback behavior of teachers and attempt to explain why these effects occurred.