Selecting teachers and prospective teachers: A meta-analysis

The purpose of this review article was to examine the methods used for the selection of teachers for employment and prospective teachers entering initial teacher education (ITE) programs, and to assess the predictive validity of these methods. We reviewed 32 studies reporting selection methods administered in high-stakes conditions and that included an external (not self-reported) teacher effectiveness outcome measure. The overall effect size was small but significant (r = 0.12, p < .001). Moderator analyses showed that academic and non-academic predictors were both significantly associated with teacher effectiveness measures and that effect sizes were small (but significant) for selection into employment and ITE. We conclude the review by proposing a research agenda that has the potential to enhance educational outcomes by improving the selection of prospective teachers.     

Connected and culturally embedded beliefs: Chinese and US teachers talk about how their students best learn mathematics

This study compares US and Chinese elementary mathematics teachers' beliefs about how students learn mathematics. Interviews with teachers in each country revealed that Chinese and US teachers have distinct ways of thinking about how mathematics should be taught and how students learn. Many Chinese teachers talked about developing students’ interest in mathematics and relating the content of mathematics lessons to real-life situations. The US teachers talked about students' learning styles and using hands-on approaches to learning mathematics. Furthermore, these beliefs may be widespread and persistent within each country because the set of ideas among teachers appear to be internally consistent. Implications for teacher change and the study of teachers' beliefs are discussed.     

What we talk about when we talk about education: the private and public educational talk of teachers in schools

One of the central challenges for a school is the creation of a public discourse which expresses the shared purpose of the school community, without losing the multiple and different voices within the teaching staff. In this article we report on the generative potential of educational conversation, when it is structured around questions which allow teachers to reflect on their best teaching selves in past practice and to project those selves into future situations. We suggest that within the staff, the public relating of teaching narratives, and the reflective conversation to which they give rise, constitutes a public and collective form of enquiry into teaching and learning. We argue that reflective conversation is dependent upon critical listening, where the listener is open to what is being said, but is also prepared to ask questions that open up the topic of teaching and learning in ways that are revelatory for both speaker and listener.     

A Turkish profile of prospective elementary school teachers and their views of teaching

This study explores the characteristics and perceptions of those currently entering elementary teacher education in Turkey. A questionnaire consisting of fixed-response, Likert-style and open-ended questions was administered to all entry level elementary teacher education students (n=381) enrolled in the Faculty of Education of Selcuk University during the 2001–2002 academic year to seek information about their background characteristics, past and preferred elementary schooling experiences, reasons for choosing elementary teaching as a career, and perceptions of elementary teaching as a profession. Results indicate that significant differences exist between male and female prospective elementary teachers’ preconceptions of the teaching profession. Implications for preservice teacher education and further research are discussed.     

Reaching them Early: Identifying and supporting prospective teachers

A group of students planning to become teachers at Montclair State University (MSU) in New Jersey were provided with a supportive community through the transition to college in the hope of increasing their retention in teacher education. The elements of their course found to be particularly important were the development of a sense of belonging in the university, the building up of their self-confidence and the focus on teaching and learning and becoming teachers.     

Motives and circumstances: Occupational-change experiences of prospective late-entry teachers

Faced with a shrinking teacher work force, some nations are increasingly turning to adults who enter teaching from other fields. Using a variant of the life history method, this study examines employment patterns and career motives of a sample of 40 prospective late-entry teachers. As in prior research, subjects report being drawn primarily by teaching's intrinsic rewards. Wider variation was found, however, in the circumstances under which they left their previous occupations, with socioeconomic concerns and self-fulfillment accounting for most such decisions. Implications are considered for teacher recruitment and other policy issues.     

Teaching prospective teachers about fractions: historical and pedagogical perspectives

Research shows that students, and sometimes teachers, have trouble with fractions, especially conceiving of fractions as numbers that extend the whole number system. This paper explores how fractions are addressed in undergraduate mathematics courses for prospective elementary teachers (PSTs). In particular, we explore how, and whether, the instructors of these courses address fractions as an extension of the whole number system and fractions as numbers in their classrooms. Using a framework consisting of four approaches to the development of fractions found in history, we analyze fraction lessons videotaped in six mathematics classes for PSTs. Historically, the first two approaches—part–whole and measurement—focus on fractions as parts of wholes rather than numbers, and the last two approaches—division and set theory—formalize fractions as numbers. Our results show that the instructors only implicitly addressed fraction-as-number and the extension of fractions from whole numbers, although most of them mentioned or emphasized these aspects of fractions during interviews.     

浅谈农村中小学教师培训

农村中小学教学质量为什么无法与城市比?文章分析了存在的原因,并提出了加强农村教师队伍建设,加强教师专业化的培训重要性,因为教师是教学质量的关键.     

Classroom motivation strategies for prospective teachers

Abstract

National surveys indicate that student motivation is a principal concern of teachers, yet few publications within the teacher education literature directly address how teachers can best apply established motivational principles. Pivotal to mobilizing student motivation is understanding the role of rewards in sustaining productive task engagement. This article examines the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for academic learning, the relative value of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation, the potential compatibility of cognitive and behavioral perspectives of student motivation, and research‐based recommendations for promoting classroom motivation.     

Gender and emotions in relationships: a group of teachers recalling their own teachers

This narrative inquiry analyses the memories of a group of female teachers telling about their own teachers. We ask how gender and emotions are intertwined to teacher–student relationships. Gender was present in the stories where the teachers described being a schoolgirl in relationship with a teacher and told about their teachers as women and men. The collective process of recalling evoked the emotions experienced as students, but these emotions were also interpreted in the present context. When recalling, the teachers were reconstructing the past in the light of the present and the future. The article highlights the significance for teachers reflecting on their own educational histories.     

Human contact in the classroom: Exploring how teachers talk about and negotiate touching students

In a “risk society,” as defined by Beck [(1992). Risk society, towards a new modernity (M. Ritter, Trans.) Newbury Park, CA: Sage, see also Castel, R. (1991). From dangerousness to risk. In G. Burchell, C. Gordon & P. Miller (Eds.), The Foucault effect: Studies in governmentality (pp. 281–298). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press], teachers are risky individuals who, “must become permanent objects of their own suspicion” [Jones, A. (2003b). Touching children: Policy, social anxiety, and the ‘safe’ teacher. Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, 19(2), 112]. The purpose of this study was to explore how four experienced, female teachers for whom “touching” students is a natural component of their teaching, talked about how they made choices about when and how to engage in the risky behavior of touching children. Findings are organized along two axes. The first represents how participating teachers perceived contexts as facilitating or constraining human contact. The second illustrates what conversations about human contact revealed about participants’ teaching selves. This study contributes to the literature on teacher–student relationships as well as the literature on teachers’ decision-making. Implications for future research in teacher decision-making, teacher–student relationships, and teacher education are discussed.     

Primary advisory teachers: Their value and their prospects

The article explores the issue of teacher autonomy in relation to its potential for freedom or control. It examines the concept of empowerment as applied to education, arguing that, although it is traditionally cast as a means of achieving autonomy, an alternative approach sees empowerment as part of the disciplinary apparatus of late modern governance. In exploring these issues, the article covers ideas such as critical education, the reflective practitioner and personal effectiveness from the view of teacher autonomy as emancipatory; and self-surveillance, disciplinary regimes and pedagogic identity from the perspective of control. The article concludes that the appeal of teacher autonomy to the profession must be tempered by the recognition that it has the ability to both liberate and deceive.     

刍议中小学教师职业道德修养

中小学教师职业道德修养水平直接关系到中小学教育教学质量和水平 ,并进而影响整个社会的道德风尚、关系到民族的未来。加强师德建设 ,首先应建构科学的师德规范体系 ,并加强对广大中小学教师提高修养水平的指导。文章对此作了相关论述     

浅谈现代音乐教师的专业能力和教学艺术

艺术教育是全面推行素质教育的重要组成部份。它对现代中小学音乐教师提出了更高的专业能力和教学艺术的要求。本文从充实的音乐基础理论知识，熟练的钢琴即兴伴奏能力，一定的舞蹈能力及文学语言艺术，形体语言艺术，独特的板书艺术，多媒体应用，合谐互动的课堂组织艺术几个方面，对现代音乐教师应具备的能力和教学艺术作了论述。     

Teacher talk: the role of story and anecdote in constructing professional knowledge for beginning teachers

This paper focusses on the stories and anecdotes which a small group of English teachers told in their efforts to describe the complexities of their first year of teaching, when they were invited by their former English Method lecturer to meet together as part of a larger research project investigating the challenges faced by beginning teachers. A distinctive feature of their discussion is the way they use narrative to organise and give meaning to their experiences, and thus explore the possibilities of narrative enquiry for professional development and educational research.