Apprenticeship and Applied Theoretical Knowledge

Abstract

Nel Noddings claims that there is an important normative element in happiness. For support, she points to the Aristotelian idea of the eudaimonic life, a concept that is often translated into English as ‘the happy life’. However, in light of the wide divergence between the Aristotelian view of eudaimonia as a life of virtuous activity and most contemporary psychologists’ and lay people’s view of happiness as subjective wellbeing, the authors of this article believe that Noddings’s merging of the two has several shortcomings. Aside from ambiguity and confusion, it encourages us to deny that, given the human condition, we must sometimes choose between happiness as pursuit of positive emotion and personal satisfaction and happiness as pursuit of the common good and the virtuous life.     

Rethinking researcher–teacher roles and relationships in educational action research through the use of Nel Noddings’ ethics of care

ABSTRACT

Action research approaches have evolved out of a criticism of previous research traditions, where teachers have been seen as research objects, at risk of being marginalized. Such approaches have also arisen out of the view that teaching, learning, and educational research are interrelated. In action research, teachers are seen as professionals, raising their status to subjects, conducting own research. The research is carried out with or by people rather than on someone, which changes the roles and relationships. Ethical dilemmas can arise, especially evident in action research, where the distinctions between researcher and researched are blurred or removed altogether. This paper aims to explore the changing roles and relationships between researchers and teachers in action research through a philosophical analysis based on the writings of Nel Noddings, especially the concept of ethics of care. The analysis creates an opportunity for a rethinking of researcher–teacher roles, focusing on responsibility and knowledge as well as reciprocity and communication. Based on the author’s own action research experiences, various dilemmas are discussed. Obstacles to and opportunities for developing caring relationships between researchers and teachers will also be highlighted. The implications of the study include valuing both researcher and teacher expertise and learning to understand each other’s perspectives as well as giving tailored care. It is also vital to find strategies to contextualize and enact these views and beliefs within the researcher–teacher relationship. Neither researchers nor teachers will have total control over the process, as they stay open to each other’s perspectives and needs based on a caring relationship.     

LINKING MARXISM, GLOBALIZATION, AND CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION: TOWARD A COMPARATIVE AND CRITICAL PEDAGOGY POST 9/11

Abstract In a post‐9/11 world, where the politics of “us” versus “them” has reemerged under the umbrella of “terrorism,” especially in the United States, can we still envision an éducation sans frontières: a globalized and critical praxis of citizenship education in which there are no borders? If it is possible to conceive it, what might it look like? In this review essay, Awad Ibrahim looks at how these multilayered and complex questions have been addressed in three books: Peter McLaren and Ramin Farahmandpur’s Teaching Against Global Capitalism and the New Imperialism, Nel Noddings’s Educating Citizens for Global Awareness, and Gita Steiner‐Khamsi’s The Global Politics of Educational Borrowing and Lending. Ibrahim concludes that, through creating a liminal, dialogical space between humanism, environmentalism, materialism, philosophy, and comparative education, the authors in these books offer a critical pedagogy in which éducation sans frontières is possible — a project that is as visionary as it is hopeful.     

Student ideas about weathering and erosion

Abstract

This paper provides an overview and discussion of a study concerning student ideas about the terms ‘weathering’ and ‘erosion’. It describes the results of a survey conducted on 236 students, aged 16‐19, to ascertain details of their ideas about these two terms. The main factor students use to discriminate between weathering and erosion is movement. A majority of students appreciate that weathering occurs in situ, whereas erosion involves transport. Many students regard weathering as solely related to atmospheric elements, which results in some erosional and weathering processes being incorrectly classified. Human actions are perceived as types of accelerated erosion, but uncertainty surrounds whether animal activities are bio‐erosion or biological weathering. This uncertainty is also reflected in the literature. Taken collectively the results have a number of implications for teachers addressing these concepts and for the students they teach.     

Children's ideas about ecology 1: theoretical background,design and methodology

Abstract

This paper provides an introduction to a study of the ecological understandings of children aged 5‐16 years in schools in the north of England. Children's ideas about selected ecological concepts were elicited through a series of written tasks and individual interviews set in a range of contexts, referred to here as probes. Responses of about 200 pupils, across the age range, were obtained on each probe. In this paper, issues relating to theoretical background, design and methodology are outlined. Two further papers present the major findings of the study: the first reports children's ideas about the cycling of matter between organisms and between organisms and the abiotic environment (Leach et al. in press a); the second reports children's ideas about the interdependency of organisms in ecosystems (Leach et al. in press b).     

Caring and Critical Thinking in the Teaching of Young Adolescents

In this article, I consider what Noddings’ ideas about the critical lessons schools should teach might suggest for social education and critical thinking at the middle school level. Giving particular consideration to Noddings’ calls to engage young people in self-understanding and allow students to pursue their interests, this article explores how the middle school years present an especially rich opportunity to engage students in an examination of the period of young adolescence, allow them to enter the debates about schooling for the middle grades, and use students’ interests as a springboard for examining complex social issues. Considering Noddings’ (2015, p. 1) urging for us to engage in the mission of “producing better adults,” I argue that the critical middle school years offer a generative time in young people’s lives to advance this important work.     

The Ignorant Supervisor: About common worlds,epistemological modesty and distributed knowledge

Abstract

When postgraduate researchers’ interests lie outside the body(ies) of knowledge with which their supervisors are familiar, different supervisory approaches are called for. In such situations, questions concerning the appropriateness of traditional models arise, which almost invariably involve a budding candidate’s relationship with a knowing-established researcher/supervisor. Supervisory relationships involving creative practice-led research in particular confront significant challenges by new and emerging themes, questions, processes and practices. My lack of disciplinary knowledge regarding two PhD candidates’ projects led me some years ago to question the effects of this lack and to search for effective ways of dealing with it. A subsequent commitment to different modes of candidate/supervisor collaborations was based on three assumptions: One, a supervisor is not, in the first instance, a conveyor or purveyor of knowledge. Two, postgraduate researchers already have substantial and refined pockets of relevant knowledge to draw on. Three, and very importantly, they are able to activate networks of distributed knowledge, often outside of the University. The argument presented in this article draws theoretically on Jacques Rancière and Hannah Arendt’s ideas of pedagogy and public space, as well as notions of cosmopolitics (Cheah & Robbins), mode 2 knowledge (Gibbons et al.) and not-knowing in Art & Design (Jonas). Reflections on my experiences of supervising PhD and Master of Art & Design candidates, together with ideas offered by contributors to a book I have recently edited, will locate moments of choice and the emergence of the unforeseeable, of vigilance towards singular events as much as collective understanding.     

From the Newspaper to the ‘News‐screen’ in Portuguese Schools

Abstracts

English: The paper points out the main objectives of school newspaper production, emphasizing those that may be achieved through work with electronic papers ‐ media competence and hypermedia literacy ‐ which are so important in the Information Society, and crucial for lifelong independent learning which is required in our continuously changing world. A pedagogical approach to the work with online papers which stresses the advantages of ‘learning by doing’ is suggested. A short overview of the Portuguese situation as to the integration of the new Information Technologies in schools will be followed by a presentation of some examples of electronic newspapers produced by Portuguese pupils.

The linear reading mechanisms of traditional papers are compared to those of online papers based on hypertext. The differences in the lay‐out and logic and in the ways of organizing information at the conceptual level will be mentioned, alongside some basic rules for writing an electronic newspaper.     

Michel Serres: Knowledge production and education

Abstract

French poststructuralist philosopher Michel Serres writes about knowledge production throughout his work. He is of particular importance to educationists because the production of knowledge shapes our discipline. But Serres is oftentimes dismissed by educationists and philosophers because of his idiosyncratic style. We argue that his style makes him unique. Serres’s style helps scholars think differently. In the first part of this paper, we will discuss matters of style and argue that Serres’s radical departure from the way in which traditional philosophy is written helps education scholars advance our field. In the second part of this paper, we argue that Serres’s work on knowledge production can be better understood in connection with Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Ludwig Wittgenstein, John Dewey, Martin Heidegger and Gaston Bachelard. In this paper, we will focus upon three of Serres’s books: Genesis, The Troubadour of Knowledge and The Parasite. Scattered throughout these works are Serres’s ideas on knowledge production.     

‘Practice in teaching should be practice in caring’ fidelity in teacher education

Abstract

As we move forward in the new millennium, the call for reform in teacher education programs increases. One reform model, offered by Nel Noddings, focuses on the students’ affect, emotion, and intellect. Noddings proposes the use of fidelity—focusing on the individual and the quality of relationships—as a cornerstone in teaching and teacher education. Fidelity in teacher education utilizes a process that includes modeling, dialogue, practice, and confirmation. This paper explores the fundamentals of a fidelity‐based approach to teacher education and examines a university course and its fieldwork component by analyzing the structure and methods of each using the fidelity framework. If we expect our pre‐service teachers to create caring learning environments, they must first be taught about caring environments by their professors. The use of fidelity in teacher education programs is one model that allows for caring environments as well as content application.     

Re-assembling knowledge production with(out) the university

ABSTRACT

As an introduction to the themed issue, this paper interrogates the idea of university unbundling through a critical reading of Ronald Coase’s theory of transaction costs. Coase, who was initially interested in the structure of firms, later applied his transaction cost theory more broadly to anything that might be defined as ‘welfare’. Not unlike other abstract economic theories, in the age of market discipline, Coase’s ideas have been widely employed to regulate the provision of public goods. Read through Coase, the main effect of the unbundling discourse has been to rationalise the university – to make it subject to a logic of efficiency as an end, and ultimately we suspect, to do damage to universities as important institutions for the cultivation of democratic values and socio-economic justice. After a brief summary of the other six papers included in the issue, the paper concludes with a discussion of the possibility of maintaining a public university in light of the neoliberal discourse of unbundling.     

‘How does this book relate to me?’ Personal engagement and critical enquiry in the literary studies classroom

ABSTRACT

In Uses of Literature (2008), Rita Felski outlines four ways in which our affective responses to literature can serve as a starting point for a new form of literary criticism drawing on reader response and ethical criticism. This article situates Felski’s approach in the context of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) on reading resilience, close and reflective reading and discusses my own experiences with integrating Felski’s ideas into a second-year subject in English literature.     

Embodying emotions: making transactions explicit in science learning contexts

In this Forum paper we synthesize some of the main ideas from three papers: Auli Orlander and Per-Olof Wickman’s (Cult Stud Sci 6, 2011), Bodily experiences in secondary school biology, Roger Sages’ (Cult Stud Sci Educ 6, 2011), About Descartes: Uses and misuses, and Steve Alsop’s (Cult Stud Sci Educ 6, 2011), The body bites back! These papers challenged us to identify how emotions functioned as elements of bodily experiences in classroom transactions and why science teachers often are not responsive to students’ emoting. We also explored how teachers making use of curriculum and companion meanings could support the construction of learning environments that more productively support students’ science learning.     

What Teachers of Science Need to Know about Models: An overview

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the nature of models and their uses in the science classroom based on a theoretical review of literature. The ideas that science philosophers and science education researchers have in common about models and modelling are scrutinised according to five subtopics: meanings of a model, purposes of modelling, multiplicity of scientific models, change in scientific models and uses of models in the science classroom. First, a model can be defined as a representation of a target and serves as a ‘bridge’ connecting a theory and a phenomenon. Second, a model plays the roles of describing, explaining and predicting natural phenomena and communicating scientific ideas to others. Third, multiple models can be developed in science because scientists may have different ideas about what a target looks like and how it works and because there are a variety of semiotic resources available for constructing models. Fourth, scientific models are tested both empirically and conceptually and change along with the process of developing scientific knowledge. Fifth, in the science classroom, not only teachers but also students can take advantage of models as they are engaged in diverse modelling activities. The overview presented in this article can be used to educate science teachers and encourage them to utilise scientific models appropriately in their classrooms.     

‘I see what I see from the theory I have read.’ Student teachers learning through theory in practice

This article presents and discusses experiences from a research and development project where Norwegian student teachers were encouraged to bridge theory and practice by following a pupil’s learning processes over time, and to write papers based on empirical data and relevant subject theory. The evaluations of the project received high ratings from the student teachers, and an inductive analysis of the answers to open-ended questions revealed three key aspects behind its success: commuting between field practice and coursework, the authenticity of the tasks and future relevance for the teacher profession. These aspects are interpreted building upon Dewey’s concept educative experience. The findings are discussed in the light of the importance of understanding pupils’ knowledge, and the role of writing in inquiry-based learning processes. The project is also placed within an international discussion on the relationship between field practice and theoretical coursework as arenas for learning in teacher education.     

Reciprocal learning in teacher education between Canada and China

ABSTRACT

The Preservice Teacher Education Reciprocal Learning Programme has been developed on a vision of bridging the East and West dichotomy by harmonising Eastern learning with Western knowledge. This programme is one of the two foundations for Xu and Connelly’s 7-year Canada-China Reciprocal Learning Partnership in teacher education and school education in 2013-2020. The Programme, ‘provide[s] an exceptional cross-cultural experience with international engagement … to broaden teacher candidates’ horizons for a society of increasing diversity in today’s globalized world’. This article’s purposes are to discuss how reciprocal learning is both a concept and an approach for international and cross-cultural teacher education and school education and to present the learning outcomes and educational significance of the East-West reciprocal learning programme in teacher education. The Programme has created opportunities for both pre-service and in-service teachers to understand and appreciate a culture and educational system different from their own, thereby reciprocally contributing to educational opportunities for those they teach. The research theory and method utilised in this work are found in a companion paper in this special series and are briefly discussed below in the project overview and later in a discussion of student outcomes. This work has implications for other school settings where increasing immigrant student population and cultural diversity have become the norm.     

‘The Trees of Knowledge and Life Growing Together’ in the Educational Vision of C.S. Lewis: Why Medway and Stevens are Almost Right About Enlightenment and Romantic Values in English

Peter Medway’s paper ‘English and Enlightenment’ (Changing English, 2010) and David Stevens’ response to it, ‘Critically Enlightened Romantic Values and English Pedagogy: A Response to Peter Medway’ (Changing English, 2011), address the relative merits of the quest for truth and the place of aesthetic response in English. It is suggested here, however, that each paper contains the kernel of a counter-argument to the one being presented and that, taken together, both papers might be augmented by attention to The Abolition of Man – Reflections on education with special reference to the teaching of English in the upper forms of schools by C.S. Lewis. This article develops ideas introduced briefly in a previous issue of this journal and considers one important aim of English teaching in schools to be the fostering of ‘just sentiments’. It argues that educational values are necessary to augment Enlightenment and critically enlightened Romantic values if English teachers are to facilitate spiritual as well as moral development and do justice to the diversity of both the texts and the students they teach.     

The school leader’s role in school-based development

ABSTRACT

Background: While the school leader’s role is undoubtedly instrumental in school effectiveness, the specific influence of formal leadership on pupil learning is indirect and can be difficult to determine. Research findings suggest that school leaders can influence school organisation and pupil learning by acting catalytically, thus unlocking their schools’ existing potential. In school-based development, school leaders and their staff undergo a workplace development process, using school resources to contribute to it.

Purpose: This article explores the concept of leadership in school-based development, focusing on leading teacher learning processes in relation to pupil learning. The research problem is formulated in the following question: How is the school leader’s role enacted and experienced when enhancing teachers’ learning in school-based development? The intent of the study was to further the understanding of leadership in school-based development.

Sources of information and method: A qualitative interview study was conducted with teachers and leaders from three lower secondary schools, roughly 2 years after the schools participated in a formal school-based development project which was initiated by the Norwegian education authority. To present the findings based on the collected data, narrative texts were constructed.

Findings: The findings draw attention to the importance of leaders’ participation in the teacher learning processes of school-based development. The study highlights the importance of leaders building trust in their schools: development processes must be collegium-rooted with common goals for the whole school. The interplay of culture, structure and content is found to be necessary for successful school-based development. Furthermore, school leaders need to balance internal and external accountability, moving school practices towards local goals, which are constructed within national overall aims.

Conclusions: The study suggests that leaders require an overview of developmental processes to manage to support and progress development; leadership needs to be distributed. Further research on leaders’ learning in relation to school-based development can generate knowledge that serves as a thinking tool, thereby informing leaders’ actions in support of school-based development.