Student teachers' conceptions and evaluations of ‘theory’ in initial teacher training (ITT)

This article reports findings from a small-scale study of secondary student teachers' evaluations of one-year, postgraduate initial teacher training (ITT) programmes in England [1]. Data were collected via in-depth interviews with 16 student teachers and self-complete questionnaires completed by 224 student teachers from four training courses in central and northern England. The findings suggest that, in line with studies conducted prior to the shift towards school-based training in the early 1990s, some student teachers today remain unconvinced about the utility of ‘theoretical’ components of their training courses. The author examines what some student teachers mean and understand by ‘theory’, suggests a three-fold typology of student teachers, relating to their approaches to learning to teach, and considers some implications for the tutoring process in ITT.     

Partnership in Teacher Training: mentors’ constructs of their role

Secondary school teachers, trained as empowered mentors, were asked about their new role 2 years after the introduction of school-based initial teacher training (ITT). Kelly's repertory grid encouraged the development of personal constructs. The mentors demonstrated deep structure constructs which would not have been easily recognised by university tutors making relatively brief school visits. It is concluded that the mentors have reached a stage where continued experience in the role will not, per se, lead to improved skills. A number of tensions within the role were highlighted, most of which are inherent in the school-based model, but some of which attach specifically to empowerment. Support for mentors not recognising such ambiguities is important. Mentor empowerment does appear to be a viable model of mentoring in school-based ITT, but continued training and changes in the type of support available is necessary. The place of appropriate theory at all stages of professional development was recognised.     

Learning to Teach or Learning to Manage Mentors? Experiences of school-based teacher training

In the late 1990s teachers acting as mentors play a key role in initial teacher training (ITT). This article reports the findings of a study which examined student teachers' perceptions of 'good' practice in mentoring. Given that certain parallels have been drawn between the nineteenth-century pupil-teacher scheme and school-based ITT, the work of Lave and Wenger (1991) who see apprenticeship as central to learning was used as a framework for analysing the data. The study highlighted the significance of the affective in student teachers' school-based learning. But it also highlighted the significance of the affective in mentors' practice: e.g. mentors' feelings of vulnerability. The way in which students responded to mentors in this respect - how far they were able to 'manage' their mentors - ultimately contributed to the success of students' placements. The article concludes that the possession of mentoring skills alone will not guarantee that students receive appropriate support.     

School-based Initial Teacher Training: Squeezing a quart into a pint pot or a square peg into a round hole?

This article provides a comparative study of the time demands created by basing initial teacher training (ITT) in secondary and in primary schools. It has been written in response to Cross's study of primary ITT ( Mentoring & Tutoring , 7(1)) and makes use of findings from a survey of secondary ITT in which the author was involved. Although the two studies on which this article is based are different in their scope, scale and methodology, their findings regarding the central importance of time to the viability of school-based ITT are remarkably consistent. Both highlight the way in which successful training depends on mentors giving far more than the official minima of mentoring time to which student teachers are entitled by courses. They also demonstrate the tension which exists between 'school time' (i.e. the timetable) and the time requirements of ITT.     

In the Lion's Den? Pupils and school-based initial teacher training

Although school-based initial teacher training (ITT) has been studied extensively, little attention has been paid to the subject of this paper: its impact on pupils. The findings reported here are part of a larger investigation into the costs and benefits of ITT in secondary schools. This paper explores the implications of school-based ITT for pupils from the perspective of four groups of teachers: two groups with formal mentoring responsibilities; class teachers with no designated role in the mentoring processes and headteachers. Their views on matters such as effects on pupil discipline, pupil motivation, curriculum continuity and parental perceptions of a school are examined. Received wisdom on some of these topics is cast in an unexpected light by the results reported here.     

Education for sustainable development in initial teacher training: issues for interdisciplinary collaboration

This article considers interdisciplinary approaches to education for sustainable development (ESD) in initial teacher training (ITT) partnerships in the light of recent national policy initiatives. In identifying challenges for interdisciplinary innovation, it brings to bear research evidence from three sources: questionnaires sent to ITT partnership schools; questionnaire surveys of geography and science graduate student teachers; and questionnaire surveys of their school mentors. Key findings are that: schools are not yet well developed as sites for student teacher learning in the domain; student teachers generally have greater understanding of sustainable development than their mentors; geography mentors perceive themselves to be better prepared for mentoring in this area than their science counterparts (who feel ill‐prepared); for both students and mentors, there are significant gaps in understanding of ESD compared with representations found in the literature. Some implications and possible ways forward for interdisciplinary ESD in teacher education partnerships are discussed.     

从教师专业化角度看校本培训

教师专业化是我国教育事业和教师群体素质发展的必然趋势。在这一背景下,教师的职后培训,特别是校本培训逐渐成为我国教师教育领域所关注的热点。文章介绍了教师专业化和校本培训的基本涵义,阐述了校本培训在教师专业化问题中的正面作用,并重点分析了有利于教师专业化发展的校本培训的具体途径。     

关于盲校教师校本培训的调查

通过自编问卷对全国25所盲校进行普查,发现被调查盲校全部对新教师进行盲文培训,每个盲校都有自己成功的校本培训经验和案例,在培训的周期、内容、方式、时间等方面盲校之间的差异很大。盲校校本培训承担为职前培训补课的任务,定向与行走、英语盲文等缺乏校本培训的基础。有些盲校一定程度上存在着校本培训概念模糊,对上、对外依赖过大的问题。建议盲校建立校本培训的保障机制,对有不同需要的教师进行个别化培训,注意校本培训与校外培训的衔接。     

农村中学英语教师专业发展的理性思考

适应新课改的要求,改变农村英语教育落后现状,农村中学英语教师急需专业发展。实现农村英语教师的专业发展,既要有政策扶持、资金与设备投入等保障措施,也要包括教师培训、校本培训、自主发展等方式在内的多种教师专业发展模式的构建。     

In-service teacher training to provide psychosocial support and care in high-risk and high-need schools: school-based intervention partnerships

This article uses a South African case study to argue that postcolonial, emerging economy societies in transition often contain schools characterised as high risk and high need. Such schools require teachers to adapt to roles other than facilitating learning, such as psychosocial support and care, and which requires additional professional development. In the absence of structured teacher professional development programmes, alternatives are required to assist teachers. The paper describes a nine-year partnership between higher education researchers and teachers in high-risk and high-need schools in three South African provinces. The participatory reflection and action (PRA) study served as platform for a school-based intervention to assist in-service teachers to adapt to their additional responsibilities. Thematic analysis was used to identify the ways in which teachers’ adaptation to high risk benefitted from the programme, and self-determination theory is used to argue for a dynamic and interconnected relationship between the teachers’ demonstrated pathways to psychosocial support and care. The article argues that in socio-politically transforming societies where need is high for in-service teacher training and formal structures for teacher professional development may be limited, partnerships between researchers and teachers appear to be useful platforms for school-based interventions to support teacher resilience.     

英美大学与中小学合作促进教师专业发展的经验与启示

教师素质的好坏直接影响教育质量的高低,教师教育担负着提高教师素质的重任,可见教师教育改革是教育改革的关键。在20世纪80年代以来的西方新一轮教育改革中,许多国家都将教师培养和培训的改革作为重点。美国的专业发展学校和英国的校本教师培训就是这种改革的产物,它们所反映的面向中小学实际需要的教师教育观,在一定程度上代表了未来教师教育的发展方向。因此,考察英美教师教育改革的经验,能为我国当前的教师教育改革提供有益的启示。     

A cross-curricular approach to ‘learning to learn’ languages: government policy and school practice

This article connects two fields of research: ‘learning to learn’ and school-based teacher development. The context is a cross-curricular project between English and modern languages teachers. Carried out in two London schools, the study aimed to encourage students to transfer common language learning strategies across the two subjects. Findings from interviews with teachers and students highlight the gap between the government's ‘learning to learn’ agenda and the realities of implementing it. A distinction is drawn between providing school-based opportunities for teachers to share generic ‘good practice’ in relation to initiatives such as Assessment for Learning and those where the actual content of lessons crosses subject boundaries. Recent government guidelines appear to mask inherent tensions in the aims and pedagogical approaches of the two languages – tensions exacerbated by the current preoccupation with performance measures. It is suggested that the differences are unlikely to be resolved without a supportive school culture that provides adequate release time for teachers to engage in extensive cross-curricular dialogue.     

Talking about Assessment: Mentor-student dialogues about pupil assessment in initial teacher training

This is an account of a study, conducted over the period of one extended school placement lasting a term, which monitored the dialogues between student teachers undertaking their school-based initial training and their mentors. The study took place in the context of the increasing emphasis placed on pupil assessment in England and Wales and the increasing prominence of school-based work in initial teacher training. This particular analysis focuses on the extent and kind of attention within the dialogues given to the assessment of pupil learning, and the ways in which school-based mentors model assessment practice through their formative discussions with student teachers. The evidence suggests that the dialogues are tending to define assessment in terms of examinations, tests and class control rather than in terms of pupil learning. While this suggests that there is scope for continued development of the mentoring role and the interpretation of initial teaching competences, it also adds to existing evidence that pupil-assessment is an area of difficulty for many experienced teachers.     

英国入职教师教育国家课程探析

英国入职教师教育国家课程对合格教师资格标准,课程总要求,英语、数学、科学和信息交流技术在学科教学中的应用等几个方面进行了规定,并提出了较为具体的要求。实施其课程的目标是达成合格教师资格标准。该课程具有实践性,注重信息交流技术在学科教学中的作用,注重中小学在教师教育课程中的作用。这些启示我们要尽快制定教师资格标准,强化实践性入职教师教育课程并注重对其实施效果进行指导和监督。     

The teacher educator’s role as enacted and experienced in school-based development

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on teacher educators’ role and how it was enacted and experienced by teachers and leaders in a school-based development project. The arena for the teachers’ professional development was the school, and teacher educators at one teacher-education institution and three schools took part in the research. Teacher educators, teachers and school leaders were interviewed two years and two months after they formally took part in the project, for one year in a pilot program and afterward for three semesters. The findings show that the teacher educators enacted their roles differently, and that they realise that they should have collaborated more and coordinated their experiences from collaborations with teachers and leaders to learn from their experiences in school. The leaders and teachers were satisfied with the teacher educators’ lectures, but the teachers wanted more dialogue with teacher educators and felt that teacher educators should have helped them transform their knowledge into teaching actions in practice. Teacher educators taking part as supporters in teachers’ practice truly could infiltrate instruction and learning. The study demonstrates that culture, structure and content need to be coordinated to enhance school-based development.     

English in action: school based teacher development in Bangladesh

In the Least Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs), School Based Teacher Development (SBTD) is sometimes advocated as a potential mechanism for improving the classroom practices experienced by millions of children in a complete school system, as quickly as possible. Robust evidence is required for approaches to be implemented with some confidence by Government development agencies, such as the UK Department for International Development (DFID). SBTD has a long history stemming from ideas of school-based curriculum development, which underlay the ideas on teacher-as-researcher, and is typically advocated in the developed world based on a view of the teacher as a professional. How might such notions play out, and to what effect, in LEDC contexts? This article examines the issues at stake in introducing SBTD in LEDCs, by examining: the nature of the evidence for various forms of teacher development, the nature of SBTD in particular and the evidence for its effectiveness. The latter issues will be illustrated through examination of English in Action (EIA, www.eiabd.com), a large-scale SBTD programme for primary and secondary English language (EL) teachers serving government schools across Bangladesh.     

The complex development of student-teachers' thinking

Studies of student-teacher development have tended to suggest a three-stage model of development in which the novices' concerns shift outwards from an initial preoccupation with self, to a focus on tasks and teaching situations, and finally to consideration of pupil learning. This paper, based on sequence of post-lesson interviews conducted with 25 student teachers following 1-year postgraduate courses within school-based partnership schemes of initial teacher education, questions the adequacy of such a model. Analysis of the reasons that the student-teachers offered for their teaching decisions, and of their lesson evaluations suggests a high level of concern for pupils' learning and an awareness of the complexity of teaching from very early in their training. The implications of these findings are explored; in particular, the challenges that they pose to teacher educators in terms of course structure and curricula, and the need to be responsive to individual learners.     

Using Interactive Radio to Enhance Classroom Learning and Reach Schools,Classrooms, Teachers,and Learners

This article provides a case study of the development of the Open Learning Systems Education Trust's “English in Action” programme in South Africa from 1993 to the end of 2004. It describes the programme's development from a model focused on enhancing learner involvement and learner gains to a model of distance education and open learning focused on promoting teacher and learner gains through school, classroom, and teacher support, and through in‐service teacher training. It documents the expansion of schools, teachers, and learners involved in the programme over a 12‐year period. It also points out the implications and limitations of the use of radio to enhance teacher and learner involvement in open learning, in terms of the renewed interest in radio learning which has taken place over recent years in developing countries, as well as more broadly internationally.     

The school-based work experiences of student teachers

The increased responsibility now given to schools for initial teacher training (ITT) in partnership with training institutions has led to questions about how prepared and confident teachers are to assume their new role, and the support they provide for students to teach the arts. This research enquires into the situation and found the development of students' subject knowledge in the arts to be a matter of concern. As time on ITT courses is cut and teachers acknowledge the need to enhance their own knowledge-base in the arts, there is uncertainty about the quality and adequacy of training for student teachers in the arts.     

What and how teacher educators prefer to learn

In which areas and domains do individual teacher educators prefer to work on their professional development? What kind of learning activities do they want to take on and with whom? Are there significant differences in these preferences between teacher educators? This article reports on a recent survey (N = 268) about the professional development of teacher educators and differences in learning preferences between less and more experienced teacher educators and between university-based and school-based teacher educators. Findings show, for example, that while most university-based teacher educators were mainly interested in improving their teaching, less experienced school-based teacher educators were more focussed on aspects such as coaching skills. In this study, ‘learning profiles’ have been developed for four categories of teacher educators. These profiles may help to create more meaningful arrangements for teacher educators’ initial education and further professional development in a context where teacher education is required to have a more school-based as well as a more research-based orientation.