Using an instrument to analyse competence‐based study programmes: experiences of teachers in Dutch vocational education and training

Competence‐based education is becoming increasingly popular. Competencies are used more and more as the starting point for designing curricula and instructional methods, especially in vocational education and training, to realize authentic and self‐steering study programmes. Despite its popularity in both research and educational settings, there is no shared understanding of what competence‐based education should look like. Earlier work developed a model for competence‐based education that outlines eight features that are important for competence‐based education. This paper presents a study designed to determine the extent to which the model for competence‐based education can be understood and perceived as useful by teachers in vocational education and training in the Netherlands. The study included 12 teams of teachers in the process of designing or re‐designing their study programmes to be more competence‐based. Teachers reported that the instrument helped them understand the state of affairs of their study programmes, and empowered them to make decisions about the extent to which they want to make these programmes more competence‐based.     

Democratic Values and Purposes: the overlooked challenge of competence

Interest in professional development based on competence‐based education and training (CBET) is growing. Competence models undoubtedly pose some important, constructive challenges to traditional arrangements for developing knowledge and expertise at all occupational levels. However, CBET's impact goes far beyond this. Its processes profoundly affect how teachers and learners view learning, assessment and the purposes of education itself. CBET is also symptomatic of wider changes in notions about ownership, pluralism and breadth in post‐compulsory education and training. It therefore poses a profound and forceful ideological challenge to particular educational values, and to the way teachers approach their professional role. This article uses post‐16 teacher education as a focus for exploring some of these wider effects. It reviews recent critiques of CBET and argues that many are preoccupied with attempting to improve its efficiency at the expense of examining the wider political and ideological context in which it is being implemented. In order to counter the drift towards a narrow utilitarian curriculum in all sectors of the post‐compulsory system, analyses of CBET will need to show its powerful effect on some important democratic traditions in learning and education. This would provide the basis for a more coherent model of professional development than the limited and fragmented choices currently on offer.     

Helping students value cultural diversity through research‐based teaching

Although international students studying in New Zealand desire and expect contact with their domestic peers, the level of cross‐national interactions remains generally low. This paper describes an initiative to promote more and better intercultural understanding within a target group of students having similar needs and interests in a higher education setting. A research‐based teaching approach progressively increased student engagement with higher order cognitive skills and both topic and process were aligned in such a way that training opportunities in intercultural competence were explored while also providing a process that offered further training in intercultural competence. Enduring appreciation of cultural diversity issues was achieved via deep styles of teaching and learning that raised awareness, changed attitudes and behaviour and ultimately impacted classroom culture. Initiative design, evaluation and results are described and limitations noted. The findings should be of interest to teachers of multicultural students and to academics studying cultural diversity issues.     

Professional Competence of Prospective Teachers in Business and Economics Education: Evaluation of a Competence Model Using Structural Equation Modeling

Teacher competence is crucial for quality of teaching and learner achievement. Competency models and competence measurement are prevalent in domains such as the natural sciences and lacking in others. We conducted our research in the field of business and economics education by focusing on the accounting domain because it is key to a deep understanding of the economic context and the development of economics competence. To teach well, teachers require professional knowledge, which is mainly composed of content knowledge (CK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and pedagogical knowledge (PK). Our competence model comprises the cognitive component of professional knowledge and the noncognitive components of beliefs, self-efficacy, and self-regulation. To measure competence in competence of prospective teachers, we employed novel instruments to test for professional knowledge and beliefs as well as established ones to test for self-regulation and self-efficacy. The sample consists of 1,152 students at 24 German universities. The structure of the competence model was tested. Results suggest that professional competence in accounting has at least four distinct dimensions (CK, PCK, beliefs, and self-regulation aspects).     

Managing Messes and Coping with Uncertainty: reviewing training for teachers in post‐compulsory education and training

Abstract

Post‐compulsory teacher training in England has been under review, and standards developed by the Further Education Staff Development Forum were to be launched in January 1999 as a precursor to a mandatory qualification for teachers in further education in England and Wales. Until now, many further education colleges have worked in partnership with higher education institutions to run Certificate in Education programmes, which aim to develop both practical teaching skills and critical knowledge and understanding of teaching and learning in a post‐compulsory context. A review of one such programme is outlined here. In a context where further education teachers must help to widen participation and promote lifelong learning, it is argued that any new arrangements for initial teacher training and continuing professional development need to include ‘competence’ in the practical skills involved in teaching and learning, but must also go beyond this, and aim to develop critical knowledge and understanding of the changing context in which staff work. It is argued that turning the new Further Education National Training Organisation standards for further education teachers in England and Wales into a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) is inadequate to this task. A strengthened partnership between further and higher education providers to develop more robust and coherent approaches to professional capability is advocated.     

Primary schools and network governance: A policy analysis of reception baseline assessment

Primary school reception baseline assessment was designed to produce a single ‘baseline’ data figure on the basis of which young children's progress across primary school could be measured and accounted for. This paper suggests that within the context of punitive performativity, head teachers might be considered ‘irresponsible’ if not engaging with the new accountability measure in its voluntary year. Using DfE‐accredited baseline assessment providers blurred the distinctions between not‐for‐profit social enterprises, digital policy innovation labs, edu‐business, and the state. It is argued that through a process of networked governance, these cross‐sectoral organisations successfully enticed some primary schools with the ‘moral economy’ of using baseline assessment. It is argued that baseline's simplistic reductionism allowed for the economisation of early years education assessment and for its commercialisation of comparison. This paper reports on a sample of five head teachers, taken from a much larger study that used a mixed‐methods approach involving a nationwide survey (n=1131) and in‐depth interviews with reception staff and head teachers in five geographically disparate primary schools. Baseline assessment was ‘withdrawn’ by the DfE in April 2016, quite possibly because of campaigns by early years organisations, the government's own report showing that the three separate baseline datasets were incompatible, and national research funded by the teachers’ unions, a small part of which is reported upon here.     

Intercultural Education and the Professional Knowledge of Teachers

The theme is the in‐service training of teachers, but it may be that the ideas apply equally to pre‐service work. The concerns are professional rather than academic: the aim is to find ways of changing, and of improving, what teachers do in schools. In order to effect such change we require models of the ways in which teachers make decisions about practice; we also need to find models which will be relevant to our own practice as teachers of teachers. This paper seeks to set out a model of professional knowledge and to explore ways in which that model might help towards an understanding of some of the processes involved in courses for teachers on intercultural issues.     

Competency, capability, complexity and computers: exploring a new model for conceptualising end-user computer education

Notions of competency have dominated the computer education literature, and have underpinned Competency‐Based Training (CBT) in information technology at all levels of education and training. The emergence of counter‐narratives underpinned by the capability movement, have as yet had minimal impact on practice in computer education. New discourses in educational theory and practice which are founded on non‐linear approaches to learning and teaching provide added impetus to engage in the competency/capability debate, and re‐examine our approaches to computer education. This paper explores complexity theories and demonstrates how complexity's pedagogical implications can lead to new models for understanding computer learning and teaching. A new model for conceptualising end‐user computer education is presented that was derived from a three‐year action research initiative with pre‐service teachers.     

How do primary pre‐service teachers in a regional Australian university plan for teaching,learning and acting in environmentally responsible ways?

Integrated unit plans with an environmental focus can provide opportunities for school students to develop critical thinking skills, and to act in responsible ways – that is, to develop ‘action competence’. In this study, environmentally focused integrated unit plans, developed and implemented by final year pre‐service teachers at an Australian regional university, were analysed to determine the extent to which they contained concepts that promoted action competence. Results here suggest that more work could be done in the area of pre‐service education to prepare teachers for teaching, learning and acting responsibly in relation to complex environmental issues. In particular, there could be more emphasis on developing integrated unit plans that empower school students and promote critical thinking, democratic processes and action‐oriented knowledge.     

Beginning teachers’ conceptions of competency: implications to educational policy and teacher education in Malaysia

When any innovations or measurement procedures are introduced into the education system to improve or judge the quality of its teaching force, beginning teachers often have to adapt to these new concepts of what constitute a high quality teaching. This article contends that these new concepts neither necessarily match beginning teachers’ own conceptions about their own competency nor has it given beginning teachers a chance to be heard. This study provides an opportunity for beginning teachers’ ‘voices’ to be heard through phenomenography which is an interpretive research approach to discover what beginning teachers in Malaysia conceive and understand as competence in relation to what they do every day as teachers. The main finding of this study is the key role played by beginning teachers’ conceptions of competency which has provided strong implications for educational policies and teacher education. The findings suggest that teachers need to be represented in any quality improvement measures. Careful attention should also be paid to the school systems and to teacher training programmes to support and encourage teachers in their professional growth as competent teachers.     

Applying Self‐Efficacy Theory to Counselor Training and Supervision: A Comparison of Two Approaches

Counseling self‐efficacy, an individual's perception of his or her competence to conduct counseling, is an important component of understanding how counselor trainees subjectively construct their counseling and training experiences and subsequently develop into competent counseling professionals. The author describes 2 approaches to using self‐efficacy theory to develop and implement counselor training and supervision interventions: the self‐efficacy enhancement approach and the self‐efficacy in context approach. Suggestions for tailoring counseling self‐efficacy assessment to the accompanying approach are included.     

Effects of Model‐based Teaching on Pre‐service Physics Teachers’ Conceptions of the Moon,Moon Phases,and Other Lunar Phenomena

The purpose of this study was twofold. First, it was aimed to identify Turkish pre‐service physics teachers’ knowledge and understanding of the Moon, Moon phases, and other lunar phenomena. Second, the effects of model‐based teaching on pre‐service teachers’ conceptions were examined. Conceptions were proposed as mental models in this study. Four different questionnaires including 22 generative, explanation, and factual questions were used through the study. The pre‐service physics teachers’ mental models generated in response to lunar phenomena might be representations of their naïve knowledge as a result of their causal observations and experiences with the world, and their misconceptions as a result of inconsistencies between their naïve knowledge and scientific knowledge. Therefore, the pre‐service teachers’ mental models were categorized based on the work by Chi and Roscoe. Some of the pre‐service teachers’ mental models shifted from flawed or incomplete mental models to correct mental models of the Moon and lunar phenomena with the facilitation of model‐based teaching. The conclusions of the study carry implications for curriculum developers and teacher education.     

Does undergraduate education influence teachers’ perceptions of learning and teaching? The case of the Republic of Slovenia

In the first part of the paper, different models of teacher education are presented and analysed: the pre‐technocratic model or the model of training master craftsmen; the technocratic model or the model of applied science; and the post‐technocratic model or the reflexive model. In the second part of the paper, the results of the empirical research are presented. The aim of the empirical research was to determine the influence of undergraduate teacher education on teachers’ perceptions of learning and teaching and, consequently, on teachers’ actions. In Slovenia, teachers’ education was carried out following two main models: the pre‐technocratic model or model of training master craftsmen, which was typical for the Academy of Education, and the technocratic model or the so‐called model of applied science, which is used at the education faculties nowadays. Because of this dualism in teachers’ education models, there exist differences between teachers and their perception and actions as well.     

创新教师教育模式,构建中国特色教师教育体系

北京师范大学在实现转型的过程中,从我国社会经济和教育发展的需要以及国际教师教育发展的基本趋势出发,就我国教师教育改革面临的一些重要问题进行了创新性研究,形成了较为完整的理论体系;积极推进教师教育模式多元化改革,其中以4+2为核心的教师培养模式改革,主动适应我国基础教育发展对高层次教师的迫切需求,在培养方式、课程设置、实践环节、指导方式、论文写作等方面进行了富有创意的探索,为我国基础教育高素质教师的培养探索出了新的路子。与此同时,还通过整合学校现有的各种资源,初步建立起了职前/职后、培养/培训一体化的教师终身教育体系,拓展和强化了教师教育的传统和特色。     

Examining student teachers’ engagement with the theory-practice link in initial teacher education

The theory-practice debate has been a perennial issue in initial teacher education (ITE). By reporting a mixed-methods study in an ITE programme characterized by a university-based ‘theory-first’ approach in Hong Kong, this study offers useful empirical evidence to analyse the theory-practice issue. 346 student teachers of a BEd Programme participated in the quantitative survey, 15 of whom were interviewed. The quantitative findings showed significant positive correlations between three types of perceived professional competence and two aspects of student teachers’ engagement with the theory-practice link. The qualitative findings offered an in-depth understanding of the ways in which student teachers connected theoretical knowledge learned in ITE coursework and practical experience in ITE fieldwork in developing their professional competence: (1) theoretical knowledge as a guide for professional decisions and a tool for reflection on practice; (2) practicalizing theoretical knowledge: adapting theoretical knowledge to practice situations. In the process of engagement, theoretical knowledge was transformed and adapted to practice situations when student teachers coped with the challenges of the teaching contexts in their ITE fieldwork. While affirming the value of student teachers’ engagement with the theory-practice link, the findings of the study shed light on ITE practices for preparing student teachers for such engagement.     

从行政职业能力测验看高职数学教育改革

高职数学教育的出发点应当瞄准能力培养,结合专业注重职业能力培养。教学过程中,知识与能力并重,使学生在获得知识的同时也提高能力。     

Book Reviews

Abstract

This paper examines the current status of inservice education for teachers in Nigeria with particular reference to Cross River and Akwa Ibom States. It identifies three main approaches to teacher inservice education in the two states of Nigeria, viz. the central office approach, the long vacation (sandwich) programme and Associateship Certificate in Education‐‐part‐time evening programme distance learning approach. Inservice teacher education is seen as an effective means of augmenting the inadequacies of pre‐service training. It is a process for continuous updating of teachers’ knowledge, skills and interests in their chosen field. The paper discusses the factors which should be considered when planning and implementing inservice education programme. Some suggestions on how to plan and implement inservice teacher education programmes in Nigeria are given.     

Teacher competencies as a basis for teacher education – Views of Serbian teachers and teacher educators

Around the world reforms in teacher education have been oriented towards making the preparation of teachers more functional for development of competencies they need in practice. At the same time, much criticism has been voiced about such reforms jeopardising the fundamental humanist traditions in teaching, based on beliefs about non-instrumental values of education. In this study we examine teachers' perceptions of importance of competencies and explore their implications for teacher education. The study has been designed to ensure that voices of teachers and teacher educators are heard in identification of areas of expertise that make up a competent teacher. We conducted a principal component analysis of the response of 370 teachers and teacher educators in Serbia to a questionnaire about the importance of a number of aspects of teacher competence. We identified four components underling teachers' perceptions of competencies relating to 1) values and child-rearing; 2) understanding of the education system and contribution to its development; 3) subject knowledge, pedagogy and curriculum; and 4) self-evaluation and professional development. Teachers perceived all but the second area of competence as very important, with the fourth scale perceived as of the highest importance. Implications of each area of competence for teacher education are discussed and conclusions are drawn for the development of teacher education curricula.