Investigating changes in pedagogical knowledge and skills from pre-service to the initial year of teaching

This study examined the levels of pedagogical knowledge and skills as perceived by student teachers who were enrolled in the Post Graduate Diploma in Education program at the National Institute of Education, Singapore, from the beginning of their initial teacher preparation program to the end of their first year of teaching. Their perceptions were assessed using the Pedagogical Knowledge and Skills in Teaching (PKST) survey which comprised six factors, namely, Student Learning, Lesson Planning, Instructional Support, Accomodating Diversity, Classroom Management, and Care and Concern. A sample of 812 student teachers participated in the study. The MANOVA conducted showed that there were significant increases in both their pedagogical knowledge and skills in teaching in all six factors from the start of their initial teacher preparation (ITP) program till the end of their first year of teaching. However, between the exit from the program to the end of the first year of teaching, they only perceived that their level of pedagogical knowledge in classroom management and care and concern continued to increase significantly. In the case of self-perceived skills, their level increased significantly between entry and exit of the program for all factors, except for care and concern, while the increase between the exit and first year of teaching was significant for all six factors. These results may have implications for preservice teacher education and this will be discussed in this article.     

Classroom studies into cognitive style in mathematics for pupils with dyslexia in special education in the Netherlands, Ireland and the UK

The project reported here was designed to explore the cognitive style used by pupils with dyslexia when answering a range of mathematical questions. The research involved 132 pupils aged between 9 and 13 years, including 66 pupils in mainstream and 66 pupils in specialist schools, in three countries in Europe.
Detailed studies of the methods used by pupils attempting the given questions on a test of cognitive style suggested that they fell into two main categories. These pupils were observed when completing the test and their responses were categorised accordingly. The resulting numerical data were then analysed for differences between pupils within each country and between their non-dyslexic counterparts.
The results showed significant differences in the balance of cognitive styles employed by pupils with dyslexia as opposed to their non-dyslexic counterparts. Also there were interesting differences occurring between the pupils with dyslexia within the three countries on initial testing. Further differences were established after a six-month intervention period, suggesting that the characteristics of different curriculum models do have an impact upon pupils' flexibility as learners.     

Growth charts don't cure malnutrition

Growth chart monitoring developed as a technique designed to decrease infant and child morbidty. In order for similar techniques to reach those who need them most, special emphasis must be placed on the question of how services and information will be delivered. This problem of implementation, often neglected by primary health planners, becomes the linchpin of success or failure when small-scale projects with limited coverage are scaled up to large regional or national programs. Supervision is most often the weakest aspect of growth monitoring programs. This frequently results in improper use of the growth charts and insufficient attention to follow-up of the children at risk. Large scale schemes employing monitoring techniques have tended to spend an inordinate amount of time considering mechanics and technical questions at the expense of analyzing results. Thus, the time consumed by the weighing and the charting is so considerable that little time or energy remains to do what is really important, that is, to analyze individual charts and provide services to those whose growth is faltering. Until the focus shifts away from the numbers of children weighted to the follow-up activities undertaken, programs utilizing growth charts will continue to have limited results. Also, in order to make a successful leap from small-scale project to improved national health, careful planning is necessary when applying any health intervention.     

Tutor and teacher timescapes: Lessons from a home-school partnership

A partnership project was developed in which parents volunteered to support teachers in training years 1-3 children in computer skills at a primary school in a small, low socio-economic community. This article identifies the ways teachers and the ‘tutors’ (as the volunteers were called) understood the value of the project. ‘Being a teacher’ and ‘being a volunteer’ were structured by different forms of social engagement, which in turn influenced the ways individuals were able to work with each other in collaborative processes. We argue that the discursive practices encoded in homeschool-community partnership rhetoric represent ruling-class ways of organising and networking that may be incompatible with those of people from low socio-economic backgrounds. When such volunteers work in schools their attendance may be sporadic and short-term whereas teachers would like ‘reliable’ ongoing commitment. This mismatch wrought of teachers’ and volunteers’ differing everyday realities needs to be understood before useful models for partnerships in disadvantaged communities may be realised.     

Sexual health and behavior of mentally retarded pupils in Japan

Sex education has always been a controversial topic. Although sex education at schools has improved in general, sex education for mentally retarded pupils still encounters prejudice and conservatism as a result of several misconceptions about the subject. This research was performed in the form of a survey of opinions about sex education in special classes in ordinary public schools for mentally retarded pupils in Tokyo, Japan. Information was collected through written questionnaires distributed to teachers and parents of pupils of both sexes, whose age range was between 7 and 16 years. This work aims to stimulate an open and broad discussion, as well as to help teachers and parents to improve their knowledge about the subject. In addition, it provides data to outline a more specific program in sex education for mentally retarded pupils.     

Privileged Identity Exploration: Examining Counselor Trainees' Reactions to Difficult Dialogues

In this qualitative study, the authors examined master's‐level counselor trainees' reactions to difficult dialogues in the classroom regarding racism, heterosexism/homophobia, and ableism over a 3‐year period. Using the Consensual Qualitative Research method as introduced by C. E. Hill, B. J. Thompson, and E. N. Williams (1997), the data analysis team analyzed narrative and reaction papers submitted during a didactic course on multiculturalism. Behavioral reactions were identified that form the basis for this study: denial, deflection, rationalization, intellectualization, principium, false envy, minimization, and benevolence.     

Sreyashi Jhumki Basu: Building a more equitable world through science education

Dr. Sreyashi Jhumki Basu was a scholar committed to equity and social justice in science education who passed away in December 2008. In this essay, I describe Jhumki’s research and the call to action her life’s work has laid out for the science education community. In particular, I draw attention to the role of critical science agency in learning and the democratic science pedagogy model that Jhumki developed to support students in crafting such agency.