What can be learned from writing about early field experiences?

This paper describes the evolution of assignments in a course for students preparing to teach secondary science, mathematics, and agriculture science. We describe and analyze work done by preservice students in two different years to look for developing teacher knowledge, explicate how we have come to understand teacher knowledge as it was enacted in this particular context, and discuss how our self-study contributed to the growth of our knowledge as teacher educators.     

Mathematics-for-teaching: what can be learned from the ethnopoetics of teachers’ stories?

The purpose of this article is to consider what methods from ethnopoetics—a field at the intersection of linguistics and anthropology—may add to narrative inquiry in mathematics education. I build a theoretical framework to argue for the use of narrative inquiry and ethnopoetics in studies of teacher knowledge. I report ethnopoetic analyses of two teachers’ narratives and what they suggest regarding their knowledge of mathematics-for-teaching.     

What can be learned from action learning coaching? Learnings of novice action learners and their coach

Action learning coaching (ALC), a form of action learning that integrates leadership coaching, is suggested as a method and ethos to build future capacity, specifically in novice HRD practitioners. The purpose of this article is to offer an account of learning from the perspectives of novice action learners, who were new to the field of human resource development (HRD) and to the concept of ALC, as well as their similarly noviced coach. Data from budding practitioners and their coach, participants in an action learning action research (ALAR) study, are analyzed to show how they used action and generative learning through ambiguity to apply learning to their new roles. Action learning coaching elevated participants’ skills, self-concept, efficaciousness, professionalism, commitment to action, and capacity for learning and growth. Participants changed themselves, their practice, and ultimately the way they approached human resource development as novices.     

Creating survival strategies: what can be learned from a science class?

Elementary science teaching has been considered by recent researchers as a process in which students should be engaged in a variety of activities to develop science concepts, science process skills and scientific attitudes. From this perspective, hands-on activities are prominent in this approach because it leads the students to both reflect on the natural and physical world, and understand the social role of science in society. In Upadhyay’s article we follow an elementary teacher who struggles to implement a participatory method of science teaching in an environment that prioritizes high-stakes tests as the benchmarks for teachers’ and students’ success. In so doing, the teacher negotiates her identities in order to engage the students in the process of learning science even though the environment requires a teaching methodology that is against her beliefs. In our commentary on Upadhyay’s article we argue that (a) the tensions experienced by teachers create the core of the process of fluidity identity; (b) the different forms of external control over the teaching are inherent in educational systems and also a demand of parents and society; and (c) the possibility for social mobility of minority students is a complex process that goes beyond the dichotomy identified in Upadhyay’s article, namely that either the students learn to think scientifically, or the students learn tricks that enable them to succeed in the tests.

Exclusion from school: What can ‘included’ pupils tell us?

Indiscipline in schools in the UK continues to be the subject of fierce debate. The views of young people as pupils in these schools continue to be marginalised despite their centrality to this debate and their ability to offer a unique set of perspectives. An exploration of the views of a generality of pupils suggests the need to challenge many of the most powerful assumptions about issues of exclusion, non‐attendance and disruption in schools but, significantly, also gives grounds for new hope.     

What really matters for students’ school satisfaction in Bangladesh?

School satisfaction is the reflection of students’ comprehensive evaluation of their school experience. This study reports the level of school satisfaction among students in Grades 6 and 8 in Bangladesh to perceive and the factors that might contribute to it using a cross‐sectional research design. A 61‐item survey questionnaire was utilized to collect data. The students’ mean score on the school satisfaction subscale of the Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale equated to a slightly positive attitude towards school. Three demographic factors including students’ academic achievement, gender, and grade level; and two school climate factors of perceived teacher–student relationship, and perceived academic support, emerged from the multiple regression analysis. The study findings are discussed from the perspective of self‐determination theory with implications for practice and avenues for future research offered.     

Student evaluation of courses: what predicts satisfaction?

The main goals of course evaluations are to obtain student feedback regarding courses and teaching for improvement purposes and to provide a defined and practical process to ensure that actions are taken to improve courses and teaching. Of the items on course evaluation forms, the one that receives the most attention and consequently the most weight is the question, ‘Overall, I was satisfied with the quality of this course.’ However, no attention has been placed on examining the predictors of students being ‘satisfied with the quality of this course’ overall. This study attempts to address this gap. The findings show that while student characteristics and reasons for enrolling in a course are predictors of overall satisfaction, it is the evaluation questions that predict the majority of the variation in course satisfaction. The findings also reveal that faculty‐selected optional questions are stronger predictors of overall satisfaction than compulsory questions.     

Emotional development in adolescence: what can be learned from a high school theater program?

Grounded-theory analyses were used to formulate propositions regarding the processes of adolescent emotional development. Progress in understanding this difficult topic requires close examination of emotional experience in context, and to do this the authors drew on qualitative data collected over the course of a high school theater production. Participants' (ages 14-17) accounts of experiences in this setting demonstrated their capacity to actively extract emotional knowledge and to develop strategies for managing emotions. These accounts suggested that youth's repeated "hot" experience of unfolding emotional episodes in the setting provided material for this active process of learning. Youth also learned by drawing on and internalizing the emotion culture of the setting, which provided concepts, strategies, and tools for managing emotional episodes.     

Teachers’ experiences of engagement with and in educational research: what can be learned from teachers’ views?

In this paper, we explore what is known about teachers’ engagement in and with educational research with a special emphasis on teachers’ voice evoking their experience of participating in research. This will draw upon international contexts in order to suggest ways of utilising the benefits of research in practice. Our review is framed around five key themes between which there are interesting links. The first theme is purpose and consequence, which highlights the dimensions of teachers’ control and autonomy. This is related to the second theme—teachers’ learning and affective response. The third theme, agency, addresses the contextual factors influencing teachers’ experience of research, which opens up the fourth theme concerning the degree of trust and collaboration that is experienced by teacher researchers. The final theme is contradiction. This phenomenon is understood in the context of socio-cultural theory in that the teacher researcher is evolving practice and questioning the focus on aggregate examination results/targets and its associated technology. While the available evidence of teachers’ experience of research is overwhelmingly positive, providing an acceleration of professional understanding and new perspectives, which re-invigorates those teachers who do engage, it is not always experienced as such. Overall, we underline the importance of dialogic approaches and ecological agency, which relate to teachers’ multi-dimensional perceptions of and participation in research.     

Missed Opportunities: What can be learnt from EPs’ experiences at SEN tribunals?

This article explores the experiences of eight Educational Psychologists (EPs) in the UK who acted as expert witnesses at Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunals (SENDIST) hearings in the last 12 months on behalf of their employing Local Authority (LA). A thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with all eight EPs indicated two super-ordinate themes related to process and professional role. This included challenges with the quality of instructions, information sharing and a failure of mediation. An overarching theme suggested a sense of dissonance related to EPs’ perceived professional role as co-constructors of solutions, and the demands placed upon them by the adversarial appeals process. This paper explores possible ways in which to refocus the EP role in tribunals in order to support LAs to manage the appeals process more effectively. Furthermore, it is suggested that Educational Psychology Services should consider developing a formal commissioned role with LAs that positions mediation at the heart of EP tribunal work.     

MOOC instructor designs and challenges: what can be learned from existing MOOCs in Indonesia and Malaysia?

The purpose of this study was to explore Indonesian and Malaysian instructors’ perceptions of massive open online course (MOOC) design and how they deal with the design challenges. Surveys, email interviews, and course reviews are the main data-collection methods employed in this sequential mixed methods study. Forty-six instructors participated in the survey, and nine of them voluntarily participated in an email interview. The findings revealed that half of the courses were delivered using a hybrid/blended type of MOOC. Personal motives, institutional encouragement, and altruism were among the main reasons for instructors to offer MOOCs. Preparation, attraction, participation, and assessment were the categories used to explain the design strategies used by these instructors in designing their courses. The survey also revealed that collaboration encouragement, participant engagement, video development, and time constraints were the primary design challenges that the instructors experienced during the design process. Furthermore, most instructors sought advice from other MOOC instructors, MOOC providers, their institutions, video tutorials, and open educational resources (OERs) to surmount their design challenges.

     

Teacher turnover: What can we learn from Europe?

Shortages of qualified teachers in primary and secondary education are very common in almost all European countries and in the US. Since high quality teachers are usually the most likely to leave, much attention has been focused on teacher turnover; retaining the best teachers can help to ameliorate teacher shortages. Using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), this paper examines the rates and characteristics of teacher turnover across European countries. Though the numerical rates of teacher turnover have followed similar patterns, countries are very individual in other respects, including the types of positions teachers hold and how they are appraised. Moreover, from the early 1990s, Eastern European countries experienced economic transitions that have influenced teacher mobility in the long term. Thanks to SHARE, we can study the occupational trajectories of respondents in nineteen European countries. By identifying those who changed their occupation, we can learn more about teacher turnover, its characteristics across Europe and how it has been affected by economic and political transition.     

‘Content’ versus ‘style’: Acquiescence in student evaluation of teaching?

Structural equation modelling is used to measure the existence of a response style (in particular, acquiescence) behind three balanced Likert scales measuring different concepts in a questionnaire for student evaluation of teaching in higher education. Exploration with one sample (n = 1125) and confirmation in a second sample (n = 710) from a different population (different students, different courses) shows the existence of a common factor behind these scales. However, the weak correlation with the variable ‘sum of agreements’ does not support the idea of acquiescence in student evaluation of teaching. Instead, the common factor could be interpreted as a halo factor influencing different scales in the questionnaire. The implications of this exploratory study for future research on acquiescence in student evaluations of teaching are discussed.     

Using Activity Theory to inform sessional teacher development: what lessons can be learned from tutor training models?

Abstract

Sessional teachers in universities are often marginalised by their part-time status, availability for training, and invisibility within the institution’s infrastructure. Nevertheless, tutors as a subset of this group, regularly have access to some training and development. This paper presents a methodological approach for implementing the BLASST framework for sessional staff at a New Zealand university, based on a project to benchmark support for tutors. Using Activity Theory, I discuss tensions associated with developing a training programme for tutors and how such an approach can aid the development of similar models for all sessional teachers.     

School principals’ views of teacher evaluation policy: lessons learned from two empirical studies

Teacher evaluation accountability policies are emerging worldwide. This study examines principals’ perceptions of teacher evaluation in terms of commonalities and differences arising from two research projects conducted in Portugal and in the US. Perceptions of school principals in regard to a new policy on teacher evaluation as well as its perceived effects at school and conditions for its implementation will be analysed. Findings point to the challenges and successes of coping with mandated accountability measures in two different contexts. Principals balanced perceived conflicting goals, sought maintenance of positive teacher relationships and school culture and managed the tensions of policy implementation and the making sense of its effects at school. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

‘What can I do to help?’: Postsecondary students with learning disabilities' perceptions of instructors' classroom accommodations

This qualitative research report adopts a critical pedagogy perspective to examine the provision of classroom accommodations for postsecondary students with learning disabilities. Although instructors in the United States are bound to abide by disability rights laws, we also believe instructors can act in ways that allow students to feel comfortable in disclosing their disabilities and in requesting and accessing accommodations for these disabilities. We engaged the voices of 10 university students living with learning disabilities through a series of semi‐structured interviews. These students offered a variety of statements on the ways that their disabilities were accommodated or not by their instructors. We classified these perceptions into three kinds of accommodation perceived by university students with learning disabilities: non‐accommodation, formal accommodation and accommodation for all students. We discuss the implications that these types of accommodations have for pedagogy and offer recommendations for effective techniques for accommodating for all. We hope the voices of these students will serve to enhance communication between students with learning disabilities and their professors.