Tailor-made: Towards a pedagogy for educating second-career teachers

Many countries suffer from teacher shortages. One possible solution to this problem is to recruit second-career teachers. These second-career teachers form an intriguing group. They bring an abundance of previous experiences into a new, professional domain. The purpose of this study is to identify pedagogical principles that support the training of second-career teachers. Special attention is given to the transfer of previous experiences obtained in different professional contexts. The literature on alternative certification programmes is reviewed from a pedagogical perspective. The results indicate that second-career teachers differ from first-career teachers in several respects. These differences appear to be related to their previous experiences. The differences also appear to influence their professional development. The study suggests that a tailor-made pedagogy for second-career teachers is needed, along with certain programme features, which take into account the specific needs of this group of students. Four design principles were identified, i.e.: addressing expectations, addressing challenges related to the transition to teaching, addressing transfer and developing a theory of practice.     

论教师主体性的弘扬

通过对教师主体性特点及其表现的分析，阐明了弘扬教师主体性的重要性，并论述了弘扬教师主体性的基本途径是：转变教学观念，改善教学环境，开发校本教材，进行教学实践。     

Collaboration in a culturally responsive literacy pedagogy: educating teachers and Latino children

This article is an analysis of collaboration in a community center’s summer literacy tutoring program for 6–8 year old children, the majority of whom were Puerto Rican, Spanish–English bilinguals. The goal of the program was to increase the children’s motivation to read through engaging literacy activities with high quality, culturally relevant children’s literature. Reflecting a sociocultural perspective, the activities built on the children’s experiences at home with literacy as a collaborative practice. The program as a whole provided for multiple levels of collaboration among the participating adults and between the children and tutors, university students in a teacher preparation program. The focus of the article is on the ways the tutors collaborated and the benefits and challenges of that process. Implications for teacher education are shared, emphasizing the need for explicitly including collaboration as one important element of a literacy pedagogy for teachers of linguistically and culturally diverse children.     

Preparing teachers for multicultural classrooms

This article examines issues involved in teaching culturally diverse students and questions current practice in multicultural teacher education. An alternative approach to preparing teachers for multicultural classrooms, illustrated by the Teachers for Alaska program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, focuses prospective teachers on (a) attending to multicultural classroom and community contexts, (b) designing instruction to make connections between academic subject matter and diverse students' backgrounds, and (c) learning how to learn from students, communities, and practical experience. The authors argue that radical departures from traditional teacher education are possible and that breaks from standard practice are both desirable and effective in preparing teachers for multicultural classrooms.     

A digital storytelling project in a multicultural education class for pre-service teachers

ABSTRACT

This paper, against the background of trends in the development of initial teacher training in Europe as a whole, identifies and explains some of the recent, radical reforms which were introduced in France by a socialist government. These include the need to raise the status and the competence of the teaching profession; the creation of new teacher‐training institutions of university status (Instituts universitaires de formation des maitres); the introduction of common entry qualifications at degree level for both primary and secondary levels; the harmonisation and the extension to 2 years of the post‐degree teacher‐training course and the increase in emphasis placed on professional training, both theoretical and practical. These reforms provoked a storm of protest and an examination of the reasons for this reveals a multiplicity of crucial questions which have far‐reaching implications.     

Combined updating on science and pedagogy for experienced teachers

This paper describes the structure and unique features of an inservice training course for science teachers (Pädagogik und Fachdidaktik für Lehrer, PFL). The course is based on the view that most issues of classroom practice are at the same time issues of pedagogy, methodology and subject knowledge. Therefore, the close connection between the participants' work required during the course and their teaching situation is most important: the teachers selected issues of direct concern to their daily work, performed research on these issues by methods of action research, analysed their findings, took appropriate action and documented the process in written form. They were supported by a team of mentors. A preliminary evaluation indicates a high degree of satisfaction of the participants and provides suggestions for the improvement of initial teacher education. In the PFL-project inservice science teacher education is considered not only an opportunity for professional development of individual teachers, but also a contribution to the development of science education and—in a larger context—school development.     

Documenting with early childhood education teachers: pedagogical documentation as a tool for developing early childhood pedagogy and practises

The Finnish social pedagogical curriculum for early childhood education directs early childhood teachers to use documentation to assess and develop pedagogy and practise. This empirical study examines the challenges and benefits a group of Finnish preschool teachers experienced when they learned to document their work. Although the idea of documenting appears fine in theory, and international experiences of constructing child-centered pedagogy through documents are promoted in the literature, accomplishing this task successfully is challenging in practise. In this study, as the features of documentation in early childhood education and care practise were considered critically, ideological discord was found within the national and local policy-making process, including problems with pedagogical leadership, which reduced the power of documentation in practise. However, the study also revealed that using documentation empowered the teachers as professionals, helped them communicate with parents and children, and guided them to focus on the children’s views.     

The Fourfold Gap: preparing teachers for educating the culturally different

In many countries teachers belonging to the dominant group, either by descent or through enculturation, confront children and youth whose ethnic, cultural, religious or social background is partly or totally different. To teach teachers to deal effectively with the problems caused by these differences, it is proposed to make use of the model of a ‘Fourfold Gap’ between the teacher and the student who belongs to another community: linguistic, cognitive, cultural and social. Within the framework of this model, concrete examples should be used, of the type usually encountered in the daily work of a teacher. A sample of these, taken from Israeli schools, is presented. Measures should be taken to counteract possible negative effects of this method: the emphasis on differences, neglecting similarities; and apprehensions about this ability to deal with situations which seem to require a very high level of knowledge. Use of the model in teacher training and inservice education in Israel has shown its potential for improving teaching in multicultural classrooms.     

A model of career development for a multicultural work force

This article highlights a career development model (Coleman, 1989) designed for use with multicultural and diverse populations. Individuals from these backgrounds sometime encounter difficulties with their career development, and the model was created to focus on the particular issues, needs, and concerns of multicultural populations. The career development model consists of six components: 1) Introduction and Orientation; 2) Self-Assessment; 3) Decision Making; 4) Educational, Occupational, and Community Information; 5) Preparation for Work, Leisure, and Retirement; and 6) Research and Evaluation. A discussion of the barriers encountered by multicultural populations is included, along with implications for counseling and development professionals.     

关于教师教育专业化的几点思考

我国教师教育以"学科专业"替代"教师专业",导致教师教育的师范特色不强,与教师专业化发展背道而驰.具体表现在,课程设置不合理,缺少对学生的教师技能的培养,学生缺少实践的机会.因此,教师教育应该在课程设置上加大教育学、心理学方面的课程数量和课时比例,加强对学生基本技能的培养与培训,并保证学生有足够的时间到学校讲台上亲自实践.     

Training teachers for mainstreaming: An inservice model for developing behavior management skills

Abstract

One purpose in this study was to determine the percentage of subjects from a nationally representative sample of high school seniors who reported intentions to major in education and were actually majoring in education during a 2‐year follow‐up analysis. Results showed less than half the subjects were majoring in education. Moreover, subjects with the poorest high school academic proficiency scores were much less likely to be attending college or majoring in education. A second purpose of this study was to describe high school academic proficiency levels in mathematics, reading, and science among students majoring in education as compared to all other college majors. Results showed high school academic proficiency scores of secondary education majors faired better, overall, than the general 4‐year college population. Conversely, 4‐year college students in elementary and early childhood education were more apt to have left high school with some academic deficiencies, especially in the area of science among early childhood majors.     

A “Toolkit” for developing critically reflective science teachers

The purpose of this paper is to describe various “tools” we use to facilitate critical reflection as we teach prospective science teachers. The notion of “tools” refers to materials and experiences used to facilitate prospective teachers’ critical reflection on science teaching and learning. Reflective tools are not intrusive devices used by instructors to analyse mechanically what prospective teachers are learning; rather, these tools are intended to provide prospective teachers with the means to generate and critique their own views of science teaching and learning. Each tool is described herein with respect to its potential use and the way in which it is introduced to prospective science teachers. We conclude with discussion of the potential for reflective tools to contribute to research on reform of science teacher education, with particular attention to primary teacher preparation.     

Reconstructing the interactive science pedagogy: Experiences of beginning teachers implementing the interactive science pedagogy

Six beginning primary school teachers pioneering the Interactive Teaching approach to science were studied in their first year of teaching. Interviews with the beginning teachers revcaled that they faced several obstacles to the implementation of the interactive teaching of science. These included lack of collegial support, lack of feedback on their teaching, difficulty assessing the learning of their pupils, and the differences between the culture of learning of the alternative science pedagogy and that of their pupils. By the end of the year, teachers had reconstructed the alternative science pedagogy in ways that reduced these difficulties. The interviews also provided evidence that ongoing support by teachers and teacher-educators versed in the alternative pedagogy can make beginning teacher's implementation of the Interactive Teaching of science less difficult. Specializations: physics education, beginning teachers. Specializations: misconceptions, assessment.     

Threshold concepts about online pedagogy for novice online teachers in higher education

ABSTRACT

The use of threshold concepts to define key points of curricula is a relatively recent development in educational research. Threshold concepts represent crucial stages of learning, the acquisition of which enables learners to progress from one level of achievement to another. In this context, the learner is described as passing through an unsettling liminal space in which they may encounter troublesome knowledge and experience uncertainty or anxiety. When applied to online pedagogy in higher education contexts, academic staff become the learners as they extend their on-campus teaching knowledge into the online realm. In this setting, the identification of threshold concepts has the potential to inform the content of professional development (PD) programmes for novice online teachers. Because little research has yet been reported on threshold concepts associated with online teaching, this study identified these threshold concepts and investigated their specific nature. Funded by an Office for Learning and Teaching Australia Grant, the project employed a mixed-methods research approach. A mixture of qualitative and quantitative data was gathered from responses to questionnaires and reflective journal entries provided by university educators who were teaching in online contexts. Also, experts in the fields of PD, online teaching and threshold concepts were consulted using a modified Delphi technique that incorporated two rounds of surveys. Results of this study are discussed in association with potential applications to PD design for novice online educators, informed by the most fundamental learning experiences encountered by their more experienced colleagues.     

新时期如何强化高校教师与教书育人的关系

“教书育人”不仅是每一位教师都应当具有的基本能力，也是高等教育培养的最终目标。但是，在目前还有部分高校教师把教书与育人分割开来，不能充分认识教书育人的重要意义，不能正确理解二的相互关系，特别是对养成教书育人的工作能力无所适从。章就这一问题进行探讨，旨在促使高校教师特别是专业教师能正确理解教书育人的意义、教书与育人的关系，同时在教学工作中注重养成教书育人的能力。     

Conceptualisations of multicultural education among teachers: Implications for practice in universities and schools

This study examined teachers' conceptualisations of multicultural education (MCE) within the setting of a laboratory school affiliated with a university campus in south eastern USA. This unique setting provided the researchers with an opportunity to study multiculturalism as a whole-school construct and in terms of how universities teach multicultural education. The analysis of data collected from a school-wide survey and group interviews with teachers revealed a) the importance of how language is used in teachers' conceptualisations of MCE, b) patterns of congruence and divergence in these conceptualisations and c) the implications of these conceptualisations for the teaching of MCE in universities and its implementation as school-wide practice.