Multicultural classrooms and cultural communities of teachers

This paper addresses issues of teacher adoption of culturally responsive pedagogy through reporting data from a 2-year ethnographic study of a teacher education program located in the U.S.A. The research findings reveal that preservice teachers experience and ultimately adopt a meritocratic and hegemonic system of schooling in which academic performance is viewed in terms of individual abilities and based on mainstream norms. The study suggests that, for substantive changes to take place in multicultural classrooms, teacher educators need to engage in the kind of critical examination which will lead to curricular reform intended to foster alternatives to hegemonic experiences and beliefs.     

What Islamic school teachers want: towards developing an Islamic teacher education programme

In the 70 year history of Islamic schools in North America, there is yet to be an accredited teacher education programme to train and professionally equip Islamic school teachers with an understanding of an Islamic pedagogy. Arguably, there has been an imbalance of energy placed on curriculum development projects over the considerations of teacher training. From my experience working as a teacher trainer/education consultant for Islamic schools for the past 10 years, it is evident that the underlying assumption for many school administrators is that a State/Ministry certified teacher who is Muslim will know how to teach ‘Islamically’. The aims of this paper are to first establish some semblance of what it means to teach Islamically or, more accurately, to teach through an Islamic pedagogy. From this framework, the crux of the paper is to present findings from a series of focus groups with Islamic school educators about their teacher training needs. The findings of this study establish the need for a formal teacher education programme in Islamic pedagogy within an established faculty of education. Such a programme would achieve three major ends in cultivating the stewardship of Islamic schools in North America: 1. Define and establish Islamic education as a valid and relevant pedagogical model that can contribute to the broader discourse of alternative, faith-based education;

2. Standardise the pedagogy and curriculum of Islamic schools based on the principles of education in Islam and to make both contextually relevant;

3. Contribute to raising the standards of Islamic schools through a teacher education programme at credible faculties of education where ongoing research and development will also be supported.

     

Liberatory Public Education: A Framework for Centering Community and Democracy in Public Education

In this conceptual article, the authors argue that diversity is an invitation to educators, youth, families, and community members to work together—a goal accomplished only by centering the local community rather than the local school—to educate youth and create a more just society. Based upon liberatory and emancipatory education, liberatory public education, an intersectional conceptual framework, brings together recent and current justice-oriented scholarship focused on youth development, curriculum and pedagogy, schooling, and community liberation, making a parallel case for justice-oriented family engagement in public schooling. The authors conclude with implications for teacher education, education policy, and family engagement scholarship.     

The Initial Education of High School Teachers: A critical review of major issues and trends

This paper draws on major research findings in international literature in order to provide a critical review of a number of key issues and trends in the initial education of high school teachers. Firstly, this paper contextualizes the prevalent discourse surrounding the field of initial teacher education (ITE) and explores the effect that this discourse has on the conceptualization of teachers' work. Secondly, this paper focuses on the debates regarding the most propitious site for the teacher education enterprise, the programme structure for ITE, the field placement or practicum, the relationship between subject study and pedagogy, and the overall effectiveness of teacher education. The paper concludes by considering the new challenges that the field of initial teacher education must confront and the implications of such challenges for the ITE curriculum.     

The nature and development of preservice science teachers' conceptions of subject matter and pedagogy

The purpose of this study was to assess the development and changes in preservice science teachers' subject matter and pedagogy knowledge structures as they proceeded through a professional teacher education program. Twelve secondary preservice science teachers were asked to create representations of their subject matter and pedagogy knowledge structures periodically (four times spanning the entirety of their subject-specific teacher education program) and participate in a videotaped interview concerning the eight knowledge structure representations immediately following student teaching. Qualitative analyses of knowledge structure representations and transcribed interviews within and between subjects were performed by one of the researchers and “blindly” corroborated by the other two researchers. Initial knowledge structure representations were typically linear and lacked coherence. Both types of knowledge structure representations were highly susceptible to change as a consequence of the act of teaching. Although there was some overlap between subject matter and pedagogy knowledge structures, they were reported to exert separate influences on classroom practice, with the pedagogy knowledge structure having primary influence on instructional decisions. Furthermore, the complexity of one's subject matter structure appeared to be a critical factor in determining whether the structure directly influences classroom practice.     

Toward a Future of Equitable Pedagogy and Schooling

This essay explores what it takes to work toward a future of equitable pedagogy and schooling through the presentation of a short ethnographic play entitled The Card (2004). The play is 1 of 5 critically performed ethnographies written to engage pre-service teacher education students in thinking about social justice in education. The essay begins with a discussion of how critical performed ethnography works as an example of "engaged pedagogy" and the ways in which its form and content can promote anti-oppression teacher education. This discussion is followed by the presentation of the play. The Card tells the story of Roberto Rodriguez, a high school teacher, who comes out as a gay man when he tries to help a student being bullied. Embedded in the ethnographic play are the kinds of social practices and beliefs needed to achieve an educational future that recognises social difference and strives for equity. Following the play, a short commentary discusses these practices and beliefs in a more explicit way. The essay concludes with a brief discussion of the questions and issues a recent performance of The Card raised for other teacher educators. This discussion allows for the examination of how the play encourages readers, performers, and spectators to both recognise and respond to social difference in ways that will move schools toward a more equitable future.     

Is Freire Incoherent? Reconciling Directiveness and Dialogue in Freirean Pedagogy

While some of Paulo Freire's readers understand his pedagogy as a rejection of any and all directive teaching methods, there are many scholars who do recognise Freire's emphasis on teacher directiveness in its appropriate form. In light of this tension between directiveness and dialogue, it seems that students of Freire must inevitably come to a crossroads: is Freire's pedagogy directive or is it not? However, even this question does not get at the more critical dilemma: if Freire's pedagogy is directive, is such directiveness incompatible with Freire's overwhelming emphasis on egalitarian dialogue? This paper establishes three readings of the issue of directiveness in Freire and ultimately provides an exegetical defence of what is termed the compatibilist reading—that directive teaching, properly construed, is compatible with dialogic teaching in Freirean pedagogy. The question this paper seeks to answer is how Freire can have it both ways. In sum, Freire undeniably supports teacher directiveness and philosophically justifies directiveness as compatible with problem‐posing education through his concepts of virtue education, utopia and criticality.     

Potential for transformation? Two teacher training programs examined through a critical pedagogy framework

This paper argues that teacher training programs, with the objective of transforming gender norms in schools, should employ a critical pedagogy framework in order to achieve the transformational learning goals necessary to change the deep-seated beliefs and patterns of behavior that characterize these gender norms. Using document analysis, this study evaluates the teacher in-service training component of two school-based intervention programs, aimed at promoting gender equality in school communities. This paper finds that the trainings miss opportunities to employ elements of critical pedagogy and therefore, are not likely to create a transformative change around gender norms in schooling.     

Critical Pedagogy’s Problem with Changing Teachers’ Dispositions Towards Critical Teaching

Increasing teachers’ dispositions towards critical teaching is a fundamental goal for critical pedagogy. Because critical educational change cannot occur without teachers’ “buy-in,” developing teachers’ inclination to implement critical teaching into their classrooms is a prerequisite for any successful critical pedagogy focused on change in K-12 schools. However, critical educators too often approach K-12 teachers’ dispositions in ways that are at best unproductive and at worst harmful to critical change efforts. Some critical pedagogy exists that approaches teachers’ knowledge and beliefs in “teacher friendly” ways, but most critical pedagogy suffers from the problem of totality and speaks merely to educators who already hold critical dispositions. In response to this problem, this paper identifies and examines three areas in which critical education scholars can work to better connect with a crucial, yet essentially unaddressed constituency: teachers in neighborhood schools. These three areas are critical pedagogy’s audience, teachers’ professional knowledge, and teachers’ beliefs about what constitutes ‘real schools’ and ‘real teachers.’ The paper ends by suggesting approaches to teachers’ dispositions that do not sacrifice the possible to the ideal, that value practical and eclectic change efforts, and that appreciate teachers’ already existing knowledge and beliefs as a foundational medium for developing critical education.     

Student teachers,special educational needs and inclusion education: reviewing the potential for problem‐based,e‐learning pedagogy to support practice

Northern Ireland has invested heavily in the use of technology enhanced learning at all levels of education. Alongside this, radical changes to the school curriculum and the planned move away from academic selection towards a more inclusive system are challenging those involved in Initial Teacher Education to find ways to improve teaching and learning for more inclusive classrooms. This study reviews a pilot programme that integrated problem‐based and blended e‐learning pedagogy to support student teachers learning in the area of special needs and inclusion education. Findings indicate that using a carefully constructed blended programme can effectively support key teaching and learning aspects of pre‐service training and help develop skills in critical reflection. It also offers initial teacher educators in Northern Ireland insight into some of the most pressing problems experienced by student teachers during training, and provides a rationale for continued programme development.     

美国批判教育学的道德教育思想述评

批判教育学是当代西方重要的教育思潮.国内对此已有不少的介绍,但是对于批判教育学的道德教育思想却根本没有谈及.批判教育学的道德教育话语具有特殊性.他们批评现行学校道德教育是一种培养服从与维系社会现状的道德教育.据此,批判教育学者强调培养学生的转化美德观,这是通过学校隐蔽课程批判来实现的.我国学校道德教育的研究与实践应该关注道德教育的批判性.     

省级教育学院办学定位的再思考

随着开放的教师教育体系的建立和教师继续教育形势的发展,省级教育学院生存和发展面临严峻的压力和挑战。办学定位不明晰是影响其发展的关键问题,由此导致办学目标不明晰、办学主业不突出、办学实力不够强等问题。如何明确办学目标、抢抓机遇、寻求出路、推进发展,是省级教育学院必须认真面对和思考的重大问题。     

批判教育学中的政治、理论与现实(下)

编者按:究竟如何理解英美的批判教育学思潮,尤其是近年来其阵营内部存在纷纷攘攘、似大有碎片化的趋势,本刊特约请当代批判教育学的代表人物之一,世界知名学者、教育思想家阿普尔教授,加州州立大学助理教授韦恩·欧,对批判教育学的历史、目前内部不同取向间的分歧以及在当代保守主义复兴语境中所面临的挑战和应对策略,予以全面的梳理和分析.批判教育学对于中国教育学界并不陌生,但是,对于它的历史缘起、理论全貌和时代境遇,我们少有系统和整体的关注.本文之于我们的价值不仅在于可略补此憾,更重要的是,它会启发我们反思,在中国时下教育改革的潮流中,我们的教育、政治、文化和经济内涵是什么?教育在社会的现实变革、社会的发展远景中,究竟应该扮演什么角色?因本文篇幅较长,故分上篇、下篇两次刊发,敬请读者谅解.     

Expecting the unexpected: engaging diverse young people in conversations around science

The issue of limited engagement with science for young people from Indigenous, minority and lower socio-economic groups in Australia appears to have been sidelined from the mainstream debate around falling rates of engagement with science at the secondary schooling level. The ‘closing the gap’ mantra of education policy in Australia has seen an extraordinary focus on improving literacy and numeracy outcomes for Indigenous students, which, while valuable, has subsumed the importance of other key learning areas including science. Teachers are soon to be expected to incorporate Indigenous Perspectives within the science subjects of the new Australian National Curriculum yet appear to be under-resourced to meet this challenge to traditional approaches to science teaching. The purpose of this paper is to explore the pedagogy of a teacher working at an alternative secondary schooling site in North Queensland Australia who volunteered to modify his teaching of science to explicitly incorporate Indigenous Perspectives. The qualitative data collected through classroom observation and teacher interviews demonstrates the complex and multi-faceted nature of the science education experience when traditional pedagogical boundaries are dismantled to allow for a drawing upon of the lived experiences of diverse young people. The teacher’s ability to embrace this broader vision of science is linked to the inclusive culture of the alternative school environment that is brought into being through a ‘common ground’ philosophy of mutual respect and democratic relations.     

论教育学的基本指向及其灵魂

教师是教育学发展的基本指向。目前针对教师的教育学教材需要为教师实现从教育学转化为日常工作提供转化路径和策略的教育学,为教师提供教育学的视角和思维方式,开拓教育学视野的教育学。理想的教育学教材,其前提应是基于教师立场,而不是专家立场。教育学对教师的成长价值体现在:从教育学所内涵的生命性中,获得强烈的生命感;从教育学所具有的时代的容涵性中,获得鲜活的现实感;从教育学的系统性中,获得严谨的逻辑感;从教育学的开放性中,获得博大的境界感;从教育学思维的穿透性中,获得现实的透析感。教师的教育学修养包括:挚爱生命的心态,时代变迁的敏感,真实深刻的体悟,基本问题的把握,反思重建的理性,滴水穿石的精神,永无止境的求索,融通转化的智慧,博大深思、高举远慕的心态,追求自我完善与创造的境界。     

When you’ve only got one class,one chance: acquiring sociocultural knowledge using eclectic case pedagogy

In this paper we describe the creation of an eclectic case pedagogy based on case‐based methods, sociocultural learning theory and visual studies successfully used in a university teacher education course designed to help students acquire sociocultural knowledge about schooling and teaching. Using qualitative data collected across three semesters and four offerings of the course, we outline the types of cases that made up the eclectic case pedagogy, as well as how students recognized the efficacy and significance of this pedagogic method for their learning. Students highlight three specific kinds of learning opportunities afforded to them when engaging with the eclectic case pedagogy including: guided participation, dismantling and building connections and close in(tro)spection of schooling and society. The benefits students attribute to this approach suggest the eclectic case pedagogy may especially befit courses that aim to expand preservice teachers’ knowledge base around issues of historical inequalities in schools, institutional barriers to equity, and teaching within and about difference.     

Bridging the Gap from Teacher to Teacher Educator: The Role of a Teaching Portfolio

This article explores the role of a teaching portfolio in supporting the transition from teacher to teacher educator. It uses aspects of self-study to catalogue the challenges and successes during this transition. Despite well-documented acknowledgement of the differing demands of teaching when compared to teaching how to teach, little is written about potential supports during transition to teacher education. This article cites benefits associated with developing a teaching portfolio during this period of transition. The process of reflecting on a teaching philosophy, interrogating pedagogy and developing a personal and professional development plan facilitate the formation of an adapted teacher identity. In addition, the scholarly, evidence-based process of portfolio writing acts as a bridge into the research and writing world of an academic. The portfolio writing process this researcher engaged in was based on iterative feedback from more experienced colleagues internal to the institution and from external panels. This led to a supportive and collaborative induction to the role of teacher educator from a number of perspectives. The researching of my self enabled deep reflection on my teaching philosophy, supported early academic writing and facilitated relationships with staff who acted as critical friends and mentors. This promoted the implementation of an effective teacher education pedagogy through structured, reflective, and evidence-led modifications to practice. This article creates awareness of the broader role of a teaching portfolio for teachers and teacher educators, in creating rich learning experiences for the pre-service teachers we teach.     

Tensions and dilemmas of cross-cultural transfer of knowledge: post-structural/postcolonial reflections on an innovative teacher education in Pakistan

Globalization in higher education and the replacement of state funding of universities with “revenue substitution” strategies in western countries have resulted in an increasing number of universities in these countries participating in what has come to be known as transnational knowledge transfer without being better informed about the cultural contexts in which this knowledge is applied, resulting in many program failures and resistance in the recipient countries. One reason for this neglect is the difficulty involved in identifying which aspects of culture to select for study before implementing educational innovations in a recipient country. The study reported in this paper was undertaken as a curriculum inquiry to identify those aspects of culture, which affect, influence or mediate curriculum, pedagogy and teacher learning in South Asia, where an increasing number of western expatriates are engaged in international curriculum work. Three aspects of culture—namely, concepts of self, discursive practices and indigenous approaches to learning—which emerged as having significant influence on curriculum and teacher learning, and may help expatriate educators to provide educational experiences that are grounded in the cultural realities of South Asia are discussed. The paper draws briefly on post-structural, postcolonial theories, and enunciations of critical pedagogy to reflect on culture, education and resistance in international academic relations.     

Improving Design & Technology Education in Hong Kong

This paper uses a critical perspective to review design criticism and theory studies in teacher education programmes in Hong Kong. The paper reports problems in Design and Technology theory teaching and learning in secondary schools through a brief survey, and tries to present a rationale for the importance of design theory and criticism in Design and Technology teacher education programmes.     

Knowledge foundations for teaching reading and spelling

Changes in education policy, the accumulation of research evidence that skilled instruction prevents and ameliorates reading failure, accountability requirements, and a new emphasis on multi-tiered interventions in schools are all causing a growing interest in improving teacher knowledge and skill in reading instruction. Consensus frameworks that explain reading development and individual differences provide an outline for what teachers need to know. The details of that content, however, including the English phonological system, the organization of English orthography, and the language structures that are processed during reading and writing, are challenging for teachers to learn. Recent studies are reviewed that investigate the relationship between teacher knowledge, practice, and student outcomes. The paper argues that teachers must have considerable knowledge of language structure, reading development, and pedagogy to differentiate instruction for diverse learners. Policy mandates for improvement of reading achievement should provide for more effective teacher education, as the knowledge base is not learned casually or easily. Research on how teachers best develop expertise should inform our licensing and professional development programs.