Teachers’ views on the effectiveness of in‐service courses on the new curriculum in Turkey

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of in‐service courses conducted by the Ministry of National Education in order to inform teachers about the changes introduced by the new primary and secondary school curricula. The study also aims to reveal whether these changes have entered the classrooms based on the teachers’ views of the INSET courses they attended. For this purpose, semi‐structured interviews were conducted with both primary and secondary school teachers during the 2007–2008 academic year. Data were analysed based on the effective INSET criteria identified from the literature. According to the findings, the INSET courses were found to be ineffective, mainly in terms of the quality of the instructors, teaching methods employed, duration of the courses and support after training. Suggestions to conduct effective INSET courses, especially when change is afoot, are included at the end of this paper.     

‘It’s just what I like’: explaining persistent patterns of gender stratification in the life choices of college students

College students often use the rhetoric of individualism to explain their choice of major. Ethnographic interviews of male and female students reveal that students’ choices are gendered. Men’s decisions focus more on future earning potential and less on personal interest. Most women believe they can choose their major without concern for future income‐earning potential, because they plan to assume a traditional, feminine role of a non‐working wife and mother with a gainfully employed spouse.     

Student teachers report on the influence of cultural values on classroom practice and community involvement: Perspectives from the Navajo reservation and from abroad

Abstract

Student teachers in schools on the Navajo Reservation and seven foreign nations reported on the influence of host culture values, beliefs, and traditions on their classroom practice and community involvement. Among the values they identified were traditional lifestyle, clan/family, sharing/reciprocity, superstitions/taboos, sports/competition, and education. Furthermore, the student teachers described their application of these values in a range of professional, social, and personal ways. The combined data demonstrate that cultural study and learning can and should be an integral part of teacher education programs, including the field‐based components. Requiring student teachers to examine the values operating in their placement communities and to seek ways in which they can incorporate these values into their own actions prepares them to become culturally responsive educators who will embrace the diversity in schools and communities.