Examining shifts in preservice teachers’ beliefs and attitudes toward writing instruction

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of integrating self-reflection, focused instruction, and field practice in a semester-long language arts course in order to shift early childhood preservice teachers’ (PSTs) beliefs and attitudes about writing instruction, as well as their development and planned use of tools for instruction. The findings revealed that a course focused primarily on preparing PSTs to teach writing can influence PSTs’ definitions of writing, the importance they place on writing instruction, their self-efficacy related to teaching writing, and their tools for instruction.     

‘You Have to Give Them Some Science Facts’: Primary Student Teachers’ Early Negotiations of Teacher Identities in the Intersections of Discourses About Science Teaching and About Primary Teaching

In the broadest sense, the goal for primary science teacher education could be described as preparing these teachers to teach for scientific literacy. Our starting point is that making such science teaching accessible and desirable for future primary science teachers is dependent not only on their science knowledge and self-confidence, but also on a whole range of interrelated sociocultural factors. This paper aims to explore how intersections between different Discourses about primary teaching and about science teaching are evidenced in primary school student teachers’ talk about becoming teachers. The study is founded in a conceptualisation of learning as a process of social participation. The conceptual framework is crafted around two key concepts: Discourse (Gee 2005) and identity (Paechter, Women’s Studies International Forum, 26(1):69–77, 2007). Empirically, the paper utilises semi-structured interviews with 11 primary student teachers enrolled in a 1-year Postgraduate Certificate of Education course. The analysis draws on five previously identified teacher Discourses: ‘Teaching science through inquiry’, ‘Traditional science teacher’, ‘Traditional primary teacher’, ‘Teacher as classroom authority’, and ‘Primary teacher as a role model’ (Danielsson and Warwick, International Journal of Science Education, 2013). It explores how the student teachers, at an early stage in their course, are starting to intersect these Discourses to negotiate their emerging identities as primary science teachers.     

Understanding the lived experiences of novice out-of-field teachers in relation to school leadership practices

The lived experiences of novice teachers in out-of-field positions influence future career decisions and impact on their journey towards being competent and experienced practitioners, conversely their “life-world” is often misunderstood. The purpose of the study reported in this article is to investigate the lived experiences of these teachers, how principals’ understanding and leadership styles influence the lived experiences of novice out-of-field teachers, and what these lived experiences mean for school leaders. The article highlights perceptions of school leaders and novice out-of-field teachers about out-of-field teaching. It argues that the strategies implemented by school leaders based on their understanding of novice out-of-field teachers’ lived experience greatly influence the development of these teachers. It draws on Gadamer’s theories to investigate the lived experiences and perceptions of four principals and four novice out-of-field teachers through the different lenses of these participants. It concludes with a discussion on the interrelationships between school leaders’ understanding, novice teachers’ lived experience and what it means for the teaching environment. Participants’ interpretation of specific lived experiences connected to out-of-field teaching shapes meaning in their attempt to understand and to “belong,” for example, confidence issues, self-esteem concerns, and disconnectedness. The investigation of these units of meaning provides an in-depth understanding of the interrelationship between leadership and the lived experiences of novice out-of-field teachers.     

Measuring teaching quality in higher education: assessing selection bias in course evaluations

Student evaluations of teaching (SETs) are widely used to measure teaching quality in higher education and compare it across different courses, teachers, departments and institutions. Indeed, SETs are of increasing importance for teacher promotion decisions, student course selection, as well as for auditing practices demonstrating institutional performance. However, survey response is typically low, rendering these uses unwarranted if students who respond to the evaluation are not randomly selected along observed and unobserved dimensions. This paper is the first to fully quantify this problem by analyzing the direction and size of selection bias resulting from both observed and unobserved characteristics for over 3000 courses taught in a large European university. We find that course evaluations are upward biased, and that correcting for selection bias has non-negligible effects on the average evaluation score and on the evaluation-based ranking of courses. Moreover, this bias mostly derives from selection on unobserved characteristics, implying that correcting evaluation scores for observed factors such as student grades does not solve the problem. However, we find that adjusting for selection only has small impacts on the measured effects of observables on SETs, validating a large related literature which considers the observable determinants of evaluation scores without correcting for selection bias.     

Conceptualizing impact in academic development: finding a way through

This paper explores the notion of impact in the context of academic development programs and considers how it can be described and understood. We argue that impact has a range of meanings and academic development programs such as graduate certificates have a broad group of stakeholders and hence the impact is different for each group depending on how the program aims and objectives are defined and understood. In finding a way through the difficulties of evaluating impact in academic development we point to the importance of clearly conceptualizing the notion of impact, a careful identification of the assumptions underpinning any program and an understanding of who academic development will benefit and how. We suggest that impact in academic development cannot be understood without taking account of the range of possible impacts and the difficulty of attributing simple cause and effect to a complex environment.     

Outcomes of the Bologna Process in LIS higher education: Comparing two programs in Europe

PurposeThe Bologna Process (BP) approach is distinguished by its emphasis on outcomes, moving the criteria for quality from input (what faculty teaches) to learning outcomes (what students will be able to do).MethodologyThe authors want to look at the issues and opportunities involved in applying the learning outcomes approach in two southern European countries with similar traditions and no previous experience of this approach. Data were collected from a documentary review based on official documents and open statistics and a survey of selected stakeholders connected to the LIS schools of Parma and Barcelona.FindingsWithin the BP framework, the LIS schools of Parma and Barcelona have distinctive missions and goals but differ in their approach to defining the attributes they expect of their graduates. Although LIS as an academic and educational undertaking has common historical roots in Spain and Italy, research and education since BP has developed in different directions.LimitationsFindings are based on the context of higher education in Italy and Spain, although the focus is on the two LIS schools of Parma and Barcelona.Originality/value of the paperThere are definite barriers to using learning outcomes as a measure of quality enhancement for LIS educational programs. Not least is the challenge of developing a list of learning outcomes that stakeholders at both national and international level can agree on. Nevertheless, this study concludes that LIS learning outcomes in Europe should be investigated as a means of benchmarking and determining the feasibility of guidelines regarding the equivalency and reciprocity of professional LIS qualifications.     

Body parts removed during surgery: a useful training source

Current undergraduate medical curricula provides relatively little time for cadaver dissection. The Department of Human Anatomy and Physiology at the University of Padova has organized a pilot project with the University Hospital for the donation of body parts that are surgically removed for therapeutic purposes and destined under Italian law for destruction. The aim of the project is to improve residents' practical training skills. A survey over the last two years has shown that about 60 body parts were available each year. These included 13 upper limbs or their parts (i.e., forearm with hand, hand, and fingers) and 47 lower limbs or their parts (i.e., legs with feet, feet, or toes). The residents explained the aim of the project to potential donors, and, if patients were willing to donate, their informed consent was obtained. The residents were present in the operating theater during the surgical procedure. In the post-operative phase, the same residents performed dissections on the body part(s), following a teaching schedule prepared by a clinical anatomist, who also assisted residents during their studies. Residents also acted as tutors for undergraduate medical students who attended these dissections. The underlying pathology for which the body part was removed was examined, and surgical procedures were practiced on the body part itself. Our project provided an opportunity for a close relationship between anatomists and surgeons, reinforcing core knowledge of anatomy by appreciation of its clinical importance. The active involvement of residents as learners and as teachers in the various steps of this project improved their knowledge of surgical techniques and helped to establish a sense of ethical responsibility and respect for the human body. This approach involves study of anatomical structures from new perspectives and leads to improved surgical practice.     

Positioning as not‐understanding: The value of showing uncertainty for engaging in science

Not understanding is central to scientific work: what scientists do is learn about the natural world, which involves seeking out what they do not know. In classrooms, however, the position of not‐understanding is generally a liability; confusion is an unfortunate condition to resolve as quickly as possible, or to conceal. In this article, we argue that students' public displays of uncertainty or confusion can be pivotal contributions to the classroom dynamics in initiating and sustaining a class's science inquiry. We present this as a central finding from a cross‐case analysis of eight episodes of students' scientific engagement, drawing on literature on framing to show how participants positioned themselves as not‐understanding and how that was consequential for the class's scientific engagement. We show how participants enacted this positioning by asking questions or expressing uncertainty around a phenomenon or model. We then analyze how participants' displays of not‐understanding shaped the conceptual, epistemic, and social aspects of classroom activity. We present two cases in detail: one in which a student's positioning helped initiate the class's scientific engagement and another in which it helped sustain it. We argue that this work motivates considering how to help students learn to embrace and value the role of expressing one's confusion in science.     

The misallocation of students to academic sets in maths: A study of secondary schools in England

Drawing upon data gathered from 9301 Year 7 students (12–13 years old) from 46 secondary schools in England, this study represents the first larger-scale attempt to compare their actual set allocations in maths with the counterfactual position where their allocation to sets is based solely on their prior attainment at the end of primary school [using their Key Stage 2 (KS2) fine-grained scores in maths]. Through such an analysis, the study found that nearly a third of students (31.2%) had been misallocated to lower or higher sets than their KS2 results would have warranted. Beyond this, school setting practices were found to exacerbate differences in set allocation in relation to gender and ethnicity, but not socioeconomic background. The odds of girls being misallocated to lower sets in maths than their prior attainment would warrant was found to be 1.5 times higher than that for boys. Similarly, the odds of Black students being misallocated to lower sets was 2.4 times higher than for White students, whilst the odds of Asian students being misallocated to lower maths sets was 1.7 times higher than for White students. The article concludes by reflecting on the significant role that setting by attainment in secondary school can play in exacerbating already established patterns of educational inequalities in gender and ethnicity.     

英汉照应、省略语法衔接手段对比及其在翻译中的应用

本文以韩礼德（M．A．K．Hallidav）与哈桑（Hasan）提出的衔接理论为依据,分析了照应和省略语法衔接手段在英汉两种语言中的差异及其对翻译的启示。