Continuities and Discontinuities: The transition from pre-service to first-year teaching

The study outlined in this paper is one element of a research project that was designed to determine, from the teachers' perspective, how their teacher preparation program influenced their development as teachers and how this development progressed in their beginning years within the profession. This paper then explores how a group of student-teachers who had completed their Dip. Ed. at Monash University described their own development during their transition into the teaching profession as they re-considered their pre-service teacher preparation program.     

Definitional Elasticity in the Measurement of Intergenerational Continuity in Substance Use

Increasingly, three generation studies have investigated intergenerational (IG) continuity and discontinuity in substance use and related problem behaviors. However, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the conceptual definition of continuity or to different types of discontinuity (resilience and escalation) or to measurement sensitivity, which affects not only the magnitudes of observed continuity but also factors that correlate with this linkage. This study uses longitudinal data on 427 parent–child dyads from the Rochester IG Study to study continuity and discontinuity in substance use over ages 14–18. Results suggest that the degree of IG continuity, resilience, and escalation in adolescent substance use, as well as correlates of each, depend heavily on how heterogeneity in the behavior is taken into account.     

What is the purpose of this experiment? Or can students learn something from doing experiments?

Historically there have been many claims made about the value of laboratory work in schools, yet research shows that it often achieves little meaningful learning by students. One reason, among many, for this failing is that students often do not know the “purposes” for these tasks. By purposes we mean the intentions the teacher has for the activity when she/he decides to use it with a particular class at a particular time. This we contrast with the “aims” of a laboratory activity, the often quite formalised statements about the intended endpoint of the activity that are too often the “opening lines” of a student laboratory report and are simply the “expected” specific science content knowledge outcomes—not necessarily learnt nor understood. This paper describes a unit of laboratory work which was unusual in that the teacher's purpose was to develop students' understanding about the way scientific facts are established with little expectation that they would understand the science content involved in the experiments. The unit was very successful from both a cognitive and affective perspective. An important feature was the way in which students gradually came to understand the teacher's purpose as they proceeded through the unit. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 655–675, 2000     

Keeping the focus on teaching and learning

This article presents findings from a pioneer study addressing the first co-action between students with intellectual disabilities and an Academy of Music in Sweden. The aim of the article is to study and discuss subject positions that are constructed in rhythmic lessons related to a gathering where students with intellectual disabilities interact with a group of Master of Education in Music students at an Academy of Music, and also to describe how constructions of identity are manifested in the interaction between the actors. With poststructuralist and social constructionist theories as theoretical framework, video observations were conducted to enable an overarching view of the pedagogic practice. The findings reveal that the gathering between the groups becomes an expression of inclusion functioning as exclusion, since the teacher’s position the students with intellectual disabilities in ways that obstruct equal interaction with the other student group. Finally, implications of the findings are discussed in addition to inclusion as an ideal model in educational settings.     

Pedagogical reasoning: the foundation of the professional knowledge of teaching

ABSTRACT

Much of the debate about that which comprises teachers’ professional knowledge has been important in the academic literature but does not necessarily reflect the reality of how they think as they construct the knowledge that underpins their practice. Typically, teachers are not encouraged to spend time talking about teaching in ways that are theoretically robust, or to unpack their teaching in order to show others what they know, how and why. Because they are busy ‘doing teaching’ they are not commonly afforded opportunities to ‘unpack’ their practice to explore and articulate the reasoning underpinning what they do. This paper argues that the essence of teachers’ professional knowledge is bound up in the teaching procedures they employ and that knowledge is accessible and demonstrable through the pedagogical reasoning that underpins their decision-making, actions and intents; all of which come to the fore when their pedagogical reasoning is examined. If teaching is to be more highly valued, it is important to more closely examine the nature of teachers’ pedagogical reasoning as it offers a window into the complex and sophisticated knowledge of practice that influences what they do, how and why.     

Keeping up: A dilemma for science teachers

This paper is based on interviews with seventy-five science teachers in twelve schools across Australia. The interviews were conducted as part of a D.E.E.T. Project of National Significance. The purpose of the project was to develop a strategy for the professional development of science teachers. The main purpose of our interviews was to listen to teachers' views on what such a strategy should try to achieve. We asked them to talk about conditions affecting the quality of their work, their attitudes to teaching, their professional development, their careers, the evaluation of teaching, and Award Restructuring. Through these interviews we came to understand how many science teachers are loosely connected with potentially valuable sources of support for their professional development. In this paper we focus on one group of “loose connections”; those between science teachers and scientists in other fields, research in science education, and their colleagues within science departments in schools. Specializations: Science education, reflective practice, teaching and learning. Specializations: Professional development, educational evaluation.     

Developing fundamental principles for teacher education programs and practices

Traditional approaches to teacher education are increasingly critiqued for their limited relationship to student teachers’ needs and for their meager impact on practice. Many pleas are heard for a radical new and effective pedagogy of teacher education in which theory and practice are linked effectively. Although various attempts to restructure teacher education have been published, no coherent body of knowledge exists about central principles underlying teacher education programs that are responsive to the expectations, needs and practices of student teachers. By analyzing effective features of programs in Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands, this study contributes an initial framework of seven fundamental principles to guide the development of responsive teacher education programs that make a difference.     

School and community relations in North America: Creative tensions

School and community relations in North America reflect creative tensions between the conserving forces of schooling and the changing forces of community. During crisis periods community development needs may modify the school's focus on individual learner growth, but generally schools use the community to extend and enrich the traditional modes. School and community interactions are chiefly characterized by such settings as community schools, community education, adult education, home and school (PTA) associations, work-study programs, curriculum-community resource programs.Recent social forces are creating heightened tensions: cultural pluralism, reduced resources, Third World influences, international conflicts, personal alienation, population concerns, energy problems, community power issues. These forces are gradually shifting school and community concepts towards ones of education and community. Education goes well beyond schooling, including all agencies having an organized influence on community development: libraries, voluntary groups, unions, business, human service agencies, government units, as well as schools. This shift requires research to develop nonformal concepts and practices, along with formal pedagogy, to increase the positive impacts of educational networks on community, as well as individual, development. These new directions have not yet significantly modified the traditional meaning of school and community relations.

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Zusammenfassung In Nordamerika reflektieren die Beziehungen zwischen Schule und Gemeinschaft die kreativen Spannungen zwischen den konservativen Kräften der Schule und den sich wandelnden Kräften der Gemeinschaft. In Krisenzeiten können zwar die Bedürfnisse der Gemeinschaftsentwicklung die Konzentration der Schule auf individuelles Wachstum modifizieren, im allgemeinen benutzen jedoch die Schulen die Gemeinschaft dazu, ihre traditionellen Bildungsmethoden auszuweiten und zu bereichern. Hauptmerkmale der Interaktionen von Schule und Gemeinschaft sind Gemeinschaftsschulen, Gemeinschaftsbildung, Erwachsenenbildung, Eltern-Lehrervereinigungen, Arbeitslehre-Programme und solche, die die Gemeinschaftsressourcen in den Lehrplan einbeziehen.Neue soziale Kräfte intensivieren die Spannungen: Kultureller Pluralismus, verringerte Mittel, Einflüsse aus der Dritten Welt, internationale Konflikte, persönliche Entfremdung, Bevölkerungsfragen, Energieprobleme, Machtfragen in der Gemeinschaft. Diese Kräfte verschieben die alten Begriffe von Schule und Gemeinschaft in Richtung auf Bildung und Gemeinschaft. Bildung geht weit über die Schule hinaus und umfaßt alle Einrichtungen, die einen organisierten Einfluß auf die Entwicklung der Gemeinschaft ausüben: Bibliotheken, Initiativgruppen, Gewerkschaften, Wirtschaft, Dienstleistungsbetriebe Regierungsstellen zusätzlich zur Schule. Diese Verschiebung muß erforscht werden, um neben der formalen Bildung auch nicht-formale Konzepte und Praktiken zu entwickeln und den positiven Einfluß von Bildungsnetzen auf die Gemeinschaft sowie auf die Entwicklung des Individuums zu verstärken. Bisher haben sich diese neuen Richtungen noch nicht wesentlich auf das traditionelle Verständnis der Beziehungen zwischen Schule und Gemeinschaft ausgewirkt.

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Résumé Les relations entre l'école et la collectivité en Amérique du Nord reflètent les tensions créatrices entre les forces conservatrices du système scolaire et les forces évolutives de la collectivité. Pendant les périodes de crise, il arrive que les besoins de développement de la collectivité modifient la perspective de l'école qui est centreé sur l'évolution individuelle de l'apprenant, mais généralement les écoles utilisent la collectivité pour élargir et enrichir les méthodes traditionnelles. Les interactions de l'école et de la collectivité sont principalement caractérisées par des moyens tels que les écoles communautaires, l'éducation communautaire, l'éducation des adultes, les associations de parents et d'enseignants (PTA/APE), les programmes travail-étude et ceux qui utilisent les ressources de la collectivité dans le curriculum.Certaines forces sociales d'origine récente accroissent les tensions: pluralisme culturel, ressources réduites, influences du Tiers-Monde, conflits internationaux, aliénation personnelle, problèmes de population, d'énergie, questions relatives au pouvoir de la collectivité. Ces forces modifient peu à peu les concepts d'écoles et de collectivité qui se transforment en concepts d'éducation et de collectivité. L'éducation va bien au-delà de la scolarité et englobe tout ce qui exerce une influence organisée sur le développement communautaire: bibliothèques, groupes de volontaires, associations, services d'aide sociale, organismes publics, etc., tout autant que les écoles. La recherche est indispensable au développement des concepts et des applications de l'éducation non formelle, tout comme l'est la didactique formelle, pour intensifier les impacts positifs des réseaux éducatifs sur le développement communautaire et sur celui de l'individu. Ces nouvelles directions n'ont pas encore modifié de façon appréciable le sens traditionnel des relations école-collectivité.