Examining student teachers’ engagement with the theory-practice link in initial teacher education

The theory-practice debate has been a perennial issue in initial teacher education (ITE). By reporting a mixed-methods study in an ITE programme characterized by a university-based ‘theory-first’ approach in Hong Kong, this study offers useful empirical evidence to analyse the theory-practice issue. 346 student teachers of a BEd Programme participated in the quantitative survey, 15 of whom were interviewed. The quantitative findings showed significant positive correlations between three types of perceived professional competence and two aspects of student teachers’ engagement with the theory-practice link. The qualitative findings offered an in-depth understanding of the ways in which student teachers connected theoretical knowledge learned in ITE coursework and practical experience in ITE fieldwork in developing their professional competence: (1) theoretical knowledge as a guide for professional decisions and a tool for reflection on practice; (2) practicalizing theoretical knowledge: adapting theoretical knowledge to practice situations. In the process of engagement, theoretical knowledge was transformed and adapted to practice situations when student teachers coped with the challenges of the teaching contexts in their ITE fieldwork. While affirming the value of student teachers’ engagement with the theory-practice link, the findings of the study shed light on ITE practices for preparing student teachers for such engagement.     

Educational reforms — Women's life patterns: A Swedish case study

This article focuses on reforms in Swedish higher education since the 1970s. It asks whether and, if so, how, these reforms affected women. Though the reform movement succeeded in bringing more of them into the university, women are still segregated into predominantly female fields. This segregation in higher education translates into occupational segregation in the workforce. The second half of the study asks why the reforms have failed to equalize men's and women's education and life-chances. Through the life history approach, the author finds that Swedish reforms proceeded on the basis of rational efficiency models which have little to do with how women make educational and work decisions. The author argues that in order for equalization to occur, the task will be to reform higher education in a way that matches rational efficiency with human sensibility.     

Study persistence and academic achievement as a function of the type of competing tendencies

In order to understand and predict students’ achievement and persistence at learning activities, many contemporary motivational models consider how much students are motivated for their school work. However, students’ achievement and persistence might not only be affected by their amount of study motivation, but also by the motivation to engage in competing alternative activities, as suggested three decades ago by Atkinson and Birch in their “Dynamics of Action” (1970). Building on this line of theorizing, the present contribution indicates that it is not only instructive to consider the level of students’ motivation for these competing activities, but also the type of activities they engage in, that is leisure vs. working activities. Two studies demonstrated that whereas time spent on working activities is inversely related to study motivation, attitude, persistence and academic achievement, such relationships were not found for leisure time engagement. Spending some time on leisure time activities does not interfere with optimal learning.     

The contribution of non-formal learning in higher education to student teachers’ professional competence

This article reports a mixed methods study on the contribution of various aspects of pre-service student teachers’ learning in initial teacher education (ITE) to their professional competence in a Five-year Bachelor of Education Programme in Hong Kong. Special attention is given to how student teachers’ non-formal learning in higher education contributes to their professional competence, an under-researched area in teacher education. A total of 282 student teachers participated in the quantitative survey, 18 of whom were interviewed. Although  Undergraduate Learning Experience: Formal Learning and Non-formal Learning was not the most highly rated factor, multiple regression indicated that it was the only ITE professional learning factor that significantly predicted all dimensions of professional competence. This supports the hypothesis that non-formal learning as a part of learning in higher education makes a significant contribution to student teachers’ professional competence. The qualitative findings showed that non-formal learning provided opportunities for service learning, co-curricular activities, and student exchange programmes with different objects of engagement. Student teachers constructed pedagogical content knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, and knowledge of context through hands-on experiences, professional dialogue with practitioners, and observations of others’ practice. Such knowledge contributed to their competence in classroom teaching and to work in schools. Implications for ITE are discussed.     

Diverse histories,common ground and a shared future: the education of career guidance and counselling professionals in the Nordic countries

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - The development of education programmes in career guidance and counseling (CGC) has followed different paths among the various Nordic...     

Developing professional skills in journalism through blogs

The curriculum for journalism is being forced to change because the traditional print‐based and broadcast modes are being challenged by wide and easy access to online mass communication. Primarily, students need to develop proficiency in writing, editing and publishing. However, they are also expected to be skilled in the Web medium as they venture into their careers, and weblogs offer a dynamic platform to develop these skills. Based on a statistical summary of student comments on the performance criteria for a blog project, a focus group interview and survey results, this paper will discuss the findings from the introduction of a course‐based blog to an undergraduate course in Hong Kong, including: (1) the technical challenge of making Web features; (2) the perception of proficiency in online publishing; (3) the evaluative skills developed through a peer‐review process; and (4) the development of a learning community through writing in blogs.     

Ara Irititja and Ara Winki in the APY Lands: connecting archives to communities through mobile apps on portable devices

ABSTRACT

Ara Irititja is an enduring and multifaceted project that returns and collectively documents Anangu historical material and preserves it for the future. This paper explains why the archival project has been so effective in engaging Indigenous communities and what it is doing to ensure its longevity. In particular, the paper provides details about a new pilot project which has resulted in a software application entitled Ara Winki No. 1, ‘a whole lot of stories’, specifically for use on portable electronic devices, which delivers historical and cultural content of relevance to Anangu in local languages and works to connect the existing archive to younger generations.     

Experimental identification of social learning in wild animals

Field experiments can provide compelling demonstrations of social learning in wild populations. Social learning has been experimentally demonstrated in at least 23 field experiments, in 20 species, covering a range of contexts, such as foraging preferences and techniques, habitat choice, and predator avoidance. We review experimental approaches taken in the field and with wild animals brought into captivity and note how these approaches can be extended. Relocating individuals, introducing trained individual demonstrators or novel behaviors into a population, or providing demonstrator-manipulated artifacts can establish whether and how a particular act can be socially transmitted in the wild and can help elucidate the benefits of social learning. The type, strength, and consistency of presented social information can be varied, and the provision of conditions favoring the performance of an act can both establish individual discovery rates and help determine whether social information is needed for acquisition. By blocking particular avenues of social transmission or removing key individuals, routes of transmission in wild populations can be investigated. Manipulation of conditions proposed to favor social learning can test mathematical models of the evolution of social learning. We illustrate how field experiments are a viable, vital, and informative approach to the study of social learning.     

Allowing the Voices of Parents to Help Shape Teaching and Learning

The authors observe that the nature of knowledge is multidimensional, and that current efforts to shape curriculum are guided by patterns of cognitive interests. Building from an example related to teacher education, they argue that higher education experiences represent a clash between freedom and conformance that relates to these curricular interpretations. They discuss the impact of these ideas on teacher education curricula and posit a curriculum model that emphasizes depth and connectedness at all levels, calling for a reconceptualization of curriculum to bring about a more fulfilling learning process.