Transdisciplinary teaching for sustainable development in a whole school project

The study investigates the transdisciplinary teaching of education for sustainable development (ESD) with a global dimension at an upper secondary school in Sweden. The purpose was to analyse and describe variations in how nine teachers in different subject matters experienced collaborative teaching in the context of a whole school educational development project. A total of 27 semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed using phenomenographic method and contextual analysis. Two main approaches to transdisciplinary teaching were identified among the teachers: one where teachers contributed but struggled with transdisciplinarity, and the other where they displayed ownership and were able to reconceptualise the project as a whole. Overall, teachers worked in the project with deep-level processing for learning ESD in an integrated manner in the transdisciplinary framework. However, they also experienced tensions between their resources and capabilities, and the challenges they faced in the project.     

Technology,Professional Development and Innovations: assessing change

ABSTRACT

A telecommunications and multimedia inservice project, called Telecommunications, Environmental Education, and Multimedia (TEEM), in Arizona USA, includes the study of an evolving professional development venture that connected university‐based preparation with the ongoing education of teachers that was school based, teacher determined, and aligned to K‐12 content. This paper describes that project, its components and its intent to pro‐actively move beyond traditional forms of inservice efforts through a number of innovations which create change. Within the context of this project, the authors describe a “circling” process that accompanies the continuously evolving professional development efforts to remain teacher and school focused.     

“顺势”中寻“创意”——上海市世界外国语小学的办学模式探索

上海市世界外国语小学在办学中,以素质教育为“主线”,倡导培养国际性人才的基础素质,并把该目标贯穿于学校工作的方方面面;以上海国际化为背景,拓展国际教育空间,引入国际文凭组织的小学项目;以教师专业发展为核心,为学校的发展奠定坚实的基础。     

Preparing teachers to remediate reading disabilities in high school: What is needed for effective professional development?

In this paper, we ask what constitutes effective professional development for teachers faced with struggling readers in high school. Metacognitive teacher training, instructional coaching, mentorship, and collaborative learning are considered. We describe a professional development model preparing high school teachers to teach PHAST PACES, a remedial reading program. A metacognitive teaching style and specific skills for teaching comprehension and decoding strategies were emphasized. Teachers provided high positive ratings regarding the usefulness of the training, and attributed to the training an increased sense of efficacy in improving student outcomes and understanding reading problems. A comparison of student outcomes for teachers’ first and subsequent classes suggested that the professional development model promotes better outcomes on more complex skills.     

Reimagining Counselor Education with Diversity as a Core Value

To move diversity from the periphery of counselor preparation to its core requires effort beyond the 1 or 2 “special” courses that have been the mainstay of multicultural counselor education (T. E. Midgette & S. S. Meggert, 1991). The authors describe the processes and outcomes of a systemic reimagining of Auburn University's counselor education doctoral program, as well as community agency and school counseling master's‐degree programs that incorporate diversity as a core value. The development of diversity‐supportive department policies and procedures, curricular and cocurricular changes, and environmental considerations are discussed and evaluated.     

Double gestures of inclusion and exclusion. Notions of learning outcomes,autonomy, and informed choices in Swedish educational and vocational guidance

Taking as its vantage point a citation from the critical educationalist Thomas Popkewitz, “double gestures of inclusion and exclusion,” the aim of this article is to describe and contextualize the project of inclusion in Swedish educational and vocational guidance, and to identify and to analyze the potentially excluding discourses that may be inherent in that project. Empirically, the article starts with an account of how career counselors describe the desired learning outcomes of their professional activities. The accounts are given in interviews where they comment on the conditions for migrant youth in the transition from school to work, and the professional considerations that follow from these conditions. Among these desired learning outcomes, learning to be an autonomous individual capable of informed choosing is the most central. The emphasis of autonomy and informed choosing is in several ways related to the goal of work life and societal inclusion; on the other hand, a perceived lack of autonomy during the process of choosing secondary education is allegedly ascribed to the category of immigrants, and the immigrant condition. Thus, in the project of inclusion, a potentially excluding way of describing the migrant other is articulated, and “the double gestures of inclusion and exclusion” are hence performed. Still, it is also held that the pursuit of autonomy – as an end goal for the counseling and guiding process – is not unconditional, and it is recognized that certain conditions call for the development of other counseling strategies and learning outcomes.     

论我国教师教育体系的重建

本文从我国当前教师教育体系存在的诸多问题出发提出了重建以本科分数线为基准的教师教育专业招生体系、重建以现代大学的专业学院为组织机构的(教师)教育学院体系、重建以现代大学课程、教师专业标准为基础的教师教育(专业)项目体系、重建以教师的教育教学能力为目标的教学体系、重建以学校、教研室和教师教育学院三位一体的师范生教学实习体系、重建以供需求关系相对平衡为导向的师范生就业体系、重建以教师教育专业考试为前提的学位证书和资格证书双证统一的教师执照体系、重建以教师专业需求和高等学校所在地为空间原则的教师培养和培训一体化的多模式体系、重建以教师资格证书更新、职称晋升和荣誉授予三位一体的教师专业发展体系,论文最后认为应该建立政府与教师培养机构之间的法律关系。     

美国PDS与教师专业化发展及其对我国的启示

美国在20世纪80—90年代逐步建立了一批PDS(Professional Development School，专业发展学校)。PDS是美国大学的教育学院与地方的公立中小学或学区合作成立的一种师资培训学校。这种学校融教师职前培养、在职培训和学校改革为一体，为大学教师和中小学教师提高自身素质，改善自身专业发展提供了一条有效可行的途径。教师专业化现已成为国际教师教育改革的一大趋势，研究PDS这一实现教师专业化发展的有效模式，对我国当今的教师教育改革仍具有重要的启示与借鉴价值。     

大班教师幼儿入学准备观念的现状调查——以商丘市为例

近年来,幼儿园教育"小学化"问题如火如荼.与之紧密相关的"入学准备""幼小衔接"却迟迟没有一个清晰的界定,导致一线教师无法准确把握儿童入学准备的工作要求.因此,本研究以大班教师为研究对象,运用问卷调查法和访谈法,对大班教师的入学准备观念进行调查分析,结果发现:大班教师的入学准备观念片面且不稳定、与小学衔接不够紧密.基于此,笔者认为应该从普及入学准备知识、促进教师专业发展和加强幼小教育联系三个方面,促进教师观念的有效衔接.     

Mind,Brain, and Education: A Transdisciplinary Field

The emerging field of mind, brain, and education (MBE) is grappling with core issues associated with its identity, scope, and method. This article examines some of the most pressing issues that structure the development of MBE as a transdisciplinary effort. Rather than representing the ongoing debates in MBE as superficial squabbles to eventually be “overcome,” this article argues that the politics of MBE language, discourse, and validity suggest profound epistemological differences that transcend a traditional interdisciplinary approach. Instead, MBE would benefit from a transdisciplinary approach that contextually accords equal and differential weight to a range of knowledge inputs from education studies, neuroscience, and other academic and practitioner spheres beneath the broad umbrella of MBE. Specifically, this article suggests that some of the key tasks for those involved in MBE studies require a transdisciplinary approach to knowledge translation and knowledge development.     

台州市高中体育教师专业发展现状与需求调查

运用问卷调查法和数理统计法对台州市高中体育教师的专业发展现状进行调查与分析,结果发现：（1）大部分体育教师对专业发展具有积极的认识,但缺乏专业发展主动权;（2）参与校外专业培训的机会较少;（3）60％以上的高中体育教师对专业培训内容的满意度较低;（4）高中体育教师专业发展需求主要表现为课程设计、风险控制、情谊沟通和教学技巧,高中体育教师的专业发展需求在不同人口学变量上存在一定差异。     

Transdisciplinary qualitative paradigm in applied linguistics: autoethnography,participatory action research and minority language teaching and learning*

The paper emphasizes the crucial importance of transdisciplinary approach to qualitative research methodology in teaching and learning contexts involving highly stigmatized minority languages. Autoethnography and participatory action research are herein employed as constructive, critical, qualitative methodological procedures relevant to transdisciplinary research on minority languages in applied linguistics. An international project on teaching and learning Romani, QUALIROM, is used as a case study in order to emphasize the fact that mere theoretical knowledge and professional expertise are important but not sufficient for successful implementation and sustainability of outcomes in this field of linguistic research. The analysis suggests that socially engaged minority language learning and teaching projects should be understood as transdisciplinary, collaborative activities that transcend academic boundaries, and in which research participants create a number of interactive contexts within project-oriented communities of practice aimed at reshaping dominant social relations and practices.     

Explicit and implicit perspectives on research-based teacher education: newly qualified teachers’ experiences in Finland

Much of the international debate and research on teacher education has centred on how the preparation of teachers should be organised. In contrast to many other countries, teacher education in Finland has been university-based for decades and has a strong research-based approach. This inductive study describes newly qualified teachers’ (NQTs) experiences of research-based teacher education. The study uses data from semi-structured interviews with 10 newly qualified primary school teachers that were conducted in 2016, directly after they had finished their master’s degrees but had not yet begun to work as teachers. A qualitative content analysis identified three main knowledge areas that describe NQTs’ experiences: personal development, teacher professional competence and research competence. The results demonstrate that students in research-based teacher education gain a solid basis for their future teacher profession, as well as experiencing legitimacy and a high level of status in society. Their education encourages them to become innovative and professional teachers who are prepared to honour the trust and autonomy given to them by society.     

Teaching gifted children with learning difficulties in writing

Abstract

This study investigated the teaching of gifted children in a Montessori school, with particular reference to gifted students with learning difficulties in writing. Within an action research context, the teachers participated in professional development in the education of gifted children and were provided with ongoing curriculum and resources support. The teachers made modifications to their gifted students’ programs after this professional development. Positive outcomes in aspects of writing, such as punctuation, spelling, sentence control and text organisation, as well as improved social outcomes, were achieved by the gifted students with writing difficulties.     

Quality early childhood education in Costa Rica? Policy,practice, outcomes and challenges

High‐quality early childhood education has been shown to improve school outcomes in several developing and developed nations. The history of policy around pre‐school education in Costa Rica is described as background to presenting cross‐sectional data on the emergent literacy skills of low‐income Costa Rican children in kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade from six schools (n?=?335). These data suggest that Costa Rican children show rather limited emergent literacy knowledge at the end of kindergarten. In addition, instruction in nine kindergarten classrooms is described and evaluated in order to provide vignettes of educational practice. The need for developmentally appropriate practice around emergent literacy skills and articulation with 1st grade is discussed and appropriate professional development is called for.     

School Personnel Educating the Whole Child: Impact of Character Education on Teachers’ Self-Assessment and Student Development

There is an increasing interest in linking character education programs with social and academic outcomes. The Child Development Project (CDP) is a character education program that promotes academic and social growth in teachers and students. This theory-driven evaluation employed a quasi-experimental design with matched control schools. School personnel participated in an intensive professional development process to learn the CDP model. Performance measures included state-mandated achievement measures, teacher self-assessment reports, and student attitudes and outcomes. Results yielded support for the CDP model as a strategy to improve social and, if properly implemented, cognitive outcomes in students; the model also improved teacher self-assessment and provided information that may facilitate professional growth about school collegiality. Implications for policy and practice will be discussed.     

Building Bridges in Teacher Education: Creating Partnerships With Parents

This study investigated the learning experiences, outcomes, and perceptions of graduate students in a collaboration and consultation course focusing on parent-professional partnerships. The course was designed as a teacher preparation model that envisions teachers, school psychologists, and families learning together to build effective partnerships to better student outcomes. Nineteen graduate students seeking a degree in special education or school psychology were provided multiple opportunities to engage in experiences with parents of children with disabilities, including having parents embedded in the course for the entire semester. Data were collected utilizing multiple methods and included a family/professional partnership survey and focus group discussions conducted both pre- and post-course, as well as a Learning Objectives and Activities Survey. Analyses of qualitative and quantitative data indicate a change in students' knowledge, beliefs, dispositions, and experiences of parent-professional partnerships.     

Assessing the needs of training on inclusive education for public school administrators

This study assessed the needs of urban school leaders for special education preparation in a large public school district in the USA in order to assist the school administrators with improving their knowledge and skills for providing appropriate services to students with disabilities and their families to support inclusive education. The needs survey was created based on the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC 2009) standards for school administrators in the USA and the literature in special education. The validity and reliability of the instrument were verified. The needs assessment measures 10 aspects regarding special education knowledge and skills as indicated by 10 factors in the exploratory factor analysis. Quantitative data analyses on a sample of 289 participants revealed that there were significant differences in the needs of training in special education knowledge based on the school administrators’ backgrounds. The current research supports the call for the professional development and inclusive education for school leaders. The findings of the current study indicated that school leaders wanted the knowledge to make them more successful in serving students with disabilities to answer the call for inclusive education.