„Jeder Schule ihre Lehrer“?

Neue Personalauswahl- und Einstellungsverfahren, an denen die Einzelschulen ma?geblich beteiligt werden, kommen bei der Besetzung von Lehrerstellen in zahlreichen Bundesl?ndern seit Mitte der 1990er-Jahre zur Anwendung und haben mittlerweile die herk?mmlichen zentralen Auswahl- und Zuweisungsverfahren zumindest in einigen von ihnen nahezu vollst?ndig abgel?st. Die Praxis und Wirkung der neuen Auswahlverfahren wurde bislang allerdings nicht systematisch untersucht. In diesem Beitrag werden empirische Befunde einer Untersuchung von Schulen in Nordrhein-Westfalen vorgestellt, die im Jahr 2002 freie Lehrerstellen über das neue Ausschreibungsverfahren besetzt haben. Erfasst wurden unter anderem die in der Praxis angewandten Kriterien der Personalauswahl und die Inhalte der Auswahlgespr?che, die Beurteilung des neuen Auswahl- und Einstellungsverfahrens durch die beteiligten Schulleitungen und Mitglieder der Auswahlkommissionen, Einsch?tzungen und Erfahrungen der neu eingestellten Lehrkr?fte sowie der Verlauf ihrer Berufseinstiegsphase und ihre Bew?hrung am neuen Arbeitsplatz.     

Deaf teacher candidates in hearing classrooms: a unique teacher preparation program

An undergraduate teacher education program at Gallaudet University prepares deaf students in "regular" education. This includes a required full-time internship with hearing students (assisted by sign language interpreters). Graduates then continue in a master's degree program in deaf education, thus acquiring dual certification. Several studies indicate that these deaf candidates progress through the same developmental stages as hearing candidates and that they develop high expectations for deaf learners. Issues related to implementing such a program are discussed.     

When transnational curriculum policy reaches classrooms – teaching as directed exploration

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to explore how education policy that is both enabled and constrained by transnational policy flows and national policy built up by social, cultural and historical traditions are enacted through curriculum at the classroom level. The focus is on how policy rationality embedded in the structure and content of curriculum is transformed into certain rationalities in classroom teaching. By understanding lessons as ‘curriculum events’, the study reveals a dominant classroom discourse of recitation and similar triadic communication patterns, which is in accordance with other classroom studies. However, in the article it is argued that the version of teaching that emerges in this study, interpreted in a broader context of an international standards movement, can be understood in terms of directed exploration based on the teacher’s role as an explorer of what the students know, think and understand in relation to the acquisition of knowledge prescribed in the curriculum’s knowledge requirements. Even though the form of recitation is well known, the reason for choosing this teaching repertoire is somewhat new and can be related to the teacher authoring a basic oral text in accordance with assessment standards.     

Student Teachers Meet Ethnic Families

Sixty preservice teachers participated in a program which allowed them to research one ethnic culture, to spend one day as a participant observer in the life of an ethnic family, and to explore the similarities and differences between cultures and within cultures based on their own experience and the feedback of experts. Students self‐reported quantitative gains in empathy, self‐development, understanding of the relevance of multiculturalism in education and confidence to teach the culturally different. Qualitative change in attitudes indicated a decrease in stereotypic thinking, greater understanding of ethnic parents and children and a willingness to make further contact with people from diverse cultures. Benefits to participating hosts are also discussed.     

Houston Teaching Academy: Partnership in developing teachers

The need for excellent teachers to teach at-risk inner-city children is well documented. Too often new teachers who have received their field experience in the suburbs are hired to teach in multicultural inner-city schools with little preparation to serve this population of children and families. Changing the history of failure for this population of teachers and their students to an experience of success was the primary goal of the partnership between the Houston Independent School District and the University of Houston's College of Education.The structure of the Houston Teaching Academy (HTA) includes four collaborative decision-making councils. Representatives from the school and college serve on each of the councils. Shared weekly seminars for supervising teachers, student teachers, and college supervisors are led by school teachers or college supervisors. Methods courses are taught at the HTA, and the students serve as tutors in the classrooms. Several graduate college courses requested by teachers are offered at the HTA.Concurrent with the development of the HTA, a formative and summative evaluation has monitored the progress of the HTA toward its goals. The HTA graduates have been followed into their first years of teaching. Interviews with their principals indicate that 77% are effectively teaching in inner-city and multicultural settings.