Technical teacher training in Greece: trends,concerns and innovative attempts

Any attempt to upgrade the status of a profession will focus on the qualification required and acquired by those who practice it. The technical teacher profession is no exception. This paper provides an analysis of trends and concerns associated with the initial training of technical teachers in Greece. The tone for the discussion is set by pointing out the role of higher education in the field and the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the two models in use. The curricular pathways the models aspire to offer are examined with reference to the School of Pedagogical and Technological Education (ASPETE), the sole higher institution in Greece for the education and training of teachers of technical and vocational subjects. Central to this is how the teaching practice system employed at ASPETE offers a powerful ‘tool’ for the preparation of prospective technical teachers and of the ‘learning’ professionals of the future.

Toute tentative de révision à la hausse du statut d'une profession se concentrera sur les qualifications requises et acquises par ceux qui la pratiquent. La profession de professeur de technique ne fait pas exception à la règle. Le texte offre une analyse des orientations et préoccupations associées avec la formation initiale des professeurs de technique en Grèce. Dans un premier temps, le ton de la discussion est fixé en soulignant le rôle que joue le système d'enseignement supérieur au sein du milieu ainsi que les forces et faiblesses des deux modèles utilisés. Les avenues pédagogiques que les modèles aspirent à offrir sont examinées en référence avec l'Ecole Supérieure d'Enseignement Pédagogique et Technologique (ASPETE), la seule institution d'études supérieures qui soit vouée à l'éducation et à la formation d'enseignants spécialisés en matières techniques. Un aspect central de cette étude concerne la façon dont le système de pratique à l'enseignement utilisé à l'ASPETE offre un outil important pour la préparation des futurs enseignants en technique, ou encore pour la préparation des professionnels ‘en apprentissage’ de l'avenir.

Todo intento de aumentar de nivel el status de una profesión, se enfoca en las cualidades requeridas y adquiridas por quienes la practican. La profesión del profesor técnico no es una excepción. Este articulo analiza tendencias y preocupaciones asociadas a la educación inicial de profesores técnicos en Grecia. Se establece el panorama para la discusión, puntualizando el papel de la educación superior en el tema, así como las fortalezas y debilidades que se perciben en cada uno de los dos modelos en aplicación. El camino curricular que los modelos intentan ofrecer, son examinados con referencia a la Escuela de Educación Pedagógica y Tecnológica (ASPETE), la única institución superior en Grecia dedicada a la educación y formación de profesores en materias técnicas y vocacionales. Es esencial para esto, cómo el sistema de práctica de la enseñanza aplicado por ASPETE, ofrece una herramienta poderosa para la formación de los futuros profesores técnicos o, en cambio, los profesionales del futuro que ‘aprenden’.

Jeder Versuch einen beruflichen Qualitätsstandard zu verbessern, wird sich auf die erforderliche und erworbene Qualifikation derjenigen konzentrieren, die den entsprechenden Beruf ausüben.Der Beruf des Techniklehrers macht da keine Ausnahme. Dieses Papier liefert eine Analyse von wesentlichen Aspekten der Erstausbildung von Techniklehrern in Griechenland und deren aktuellen Trends.Der Tenor der Diskussion wird durch den Hinweis auf die Rolle der Hochschulausbildung in diesem Bereich geprägt und durch die erkannten Stärken und Schwächen der beiden Ausbildungsmodelle, die zur Zeit in diesem Bereich angewandt werden.Die in den Modellen angebotenen curricularen Ausbildungsgänge werden unter Berücksichtigung der Situation an der Schule für Pädagogische und Technologische Ausbildung (ASPETE) untersucht. Die ASPETE ist die einzige Hochschuleinrichtung in Griechenland für die Ausbildung und Schulung von Lehrern von technischen und anderen berufsbildenden Fächern.Von zentraler Bedeutung für diesen Themenkomplex ist die Frage, inwieweit das ‘System der Begleiteten Praktischen Unterrichtserfahrung’, das an der ASPETE zur Anwendung kommt, eine effizientes ‘Instrument’ für die Vorbereitung der angehenden Techniklehrer ist, oder anders gesagt, für die ‘sich ständig selber weiterbildenden’ Ausbilder der Zukunft.     

Supporting preschoolers’ cognitive development: Short- and mid-term effects of fluid reasoning,visuospatial, and motor training

Cognitive abilities are essential to children's overall growth; thus, the implementation of early and effective training interventions is a major challenge for developmental psychologists and teachers. This study explores whether an intervention simultaneously operating on fluid reasoning (FR), visuospatial, narrative, and motor abilities could boost these competencies in a group of Italian preschoolers (N = 108, 54 males 54 females, Age_mean = 4.04). FR and visuospatial abilities showed training-related increases at the end of the training and 1-year follow-up (moderate effect size). Interestingly, positive correlations with working memory and mathematical abilities were found. Beyond their scientific relevance, the short- and long-term effects provide fundamental indications for designing and implementing educational programs dedicated to preschoolers.     

Early action and gesture "vocabulary" and its relation with word comprehension and production

Data from 492 Italian infants (8-18 months) were collected with the parental questionnaire MacArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventories to describe early actions and gestures (A-G) "vocabulary" and its relation with spoken vocabulary in both comprehension and production. A-G were more strongly correlated with word comprehension than word production. A clear developmental pattern for the different types of A-G was found. These findings are similar to those of different Western languages, indicating a common biological and cultural basis. The analysis of individual A-G and their relations with early words with a related meaning showed interesting similarities between the production of A-G with and without object manipulation and the comprehension and production of corresponding words. Results indicate that the transition from A-G to spoken language is mediated by word comprehension.     

Knowledge and power in the technology classroom: a framework for studying teachers and students in action

The purpose of this paper is to develop and illustrate an analytical framework for exploring how relations between knowledge and power are constituted in science and technology classrooms. In addition, the empirical purpose of this paper is to explore how disciplinary knowledge and knowledge-making are constituted in teacher–student interactions. In our analysis we focus on how instances of teacher–student interaction can be understood as simultaneously contributing to meaning-making and producing power relations. The analytical framework we have developed makes use of practical epistemological analysis in combination with a Foucauldian conceptualisation of power, assuming that privileging of educational content needs to be understood as integral to the execution of power in the classroom. The empirical data consists of video-recorded teaching episodes, taken from a teaching sequence of three 1-h lessons in one Swedish technology classroom with sixteen 13–14 years old students. In the analysis we have identified how different epistemological moves contribute to the normalisation and exclusion of knowledge as well as ways of knowledge-making. Further, by looking at how the teacher communicates what counts as (ir)relevant knowledge or (ir)relevant ways of acquiring knowledge we are able to describe what kind of technology student is made desirable in the analysed classroom.