Choices and Expectations at Primary and Secondary Stages in the State and Private Sectors

This paper examines a range of issues concerned with the process of choosing schools in the private and state sectors at the primary/pre‐preparatory stage and at the time of transfer to secondary/senior school. The findings indicate that choices about schools are made at different times and in different ways by parents who use the state and private sectors. One of the key findings is that the process of choosing a school begins earlier in the private than in the state sector; another is that quality of education is cited more frequently as one of the ‘top three’ essential factors by parents of children in the private sector. At both the primary and transfer to secondary stages, very high percentages of parents consider it essential that their child should be happy. A discussion of the different notions that private school and the state school parents may have of ‘happiness’ is offered.     

Beyond ‘migrant background’: how to select relevant,social justice oriented,and feasible social categories in educational research

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Across continental Europe, educational research samples are often divided by ‘migrant background’, a binary variable criticized for masking...     

The influence of video clubs on teachers’ thinking and practice

This article examines a model of professional development called “video clubs” in which teachers watch and discuss excerpts of videos from their classrooms. We investigate how participation in a video club influences teachers’ thinking and practice by exploring three related contexts: (a) teachers’ comments during video-club meetings, (b) teachers’ self-reports of the effects of the video club, and (c) teachers’ instruction across the year. Data analysis revealed changes in all three contexts. In the video-club meetings, teachers paid increased attention to student mathematical thinking over the course of the year. In interviews, teachers reported having learned about students’ mathematical thinking, about the importance of attending to student ideas during instruction, and about their school’s mathematics curriculum. Finally, shifts were also uncovered in the teachers’ instruction. By the end of the year, teachers increasingly made space for student thinking to emerge in the classroom, probed students’ underlying understandings, and learned from their students while teaching.     

Involving Older Adults as Co-researchers in Social Work Education

This article examines the contribution of older adults as co-researchers to the evaluation of a gerontological social work course. The evaluation was conducted at an Israeli college as part of a collaborative project with a United Kingdom university. Here, we follow the older adults who are service users through their transition to the role of co-researchers and reflect on their experiences in the process. Insights gained by the different stakeholders from the co-researching experience are discussed, and the growing interest in service-user contributions to social work education in various fields such as aging and disabilities is recognized.     

Bridging the Gap from Teacher to Teacher Educator: The Role of a Teaching Portfolio

This article explores the role of a teaching portfolio in supporting the transition from teacher to teacher educator. It uses aspects of self-study to catalogue the challenges and successes during this transition. Despite well-documented acknowledgement of the differing demands of teaching when compared to teaching how to teach, little is written about potential supports during transition to teacher education. This article cites benefits associated with developing a teaching portfolio during this period of transition. The process of reflecting on a teaching philosophy, interrogating pedagogy and developing a personal and professional development plan facilitate the formation of an adapted teacher identity. In addition, the scholarly, evidence-based process of portfolio writing acts as a bridge into the research and writing world of an academic. The portfolio writing process this researcher engaged in was based on iterative feedback from more experienced colleagues internal to the institution and from external panels. This led to a supportive and collaborative induction to the role of teacher educator from a number of perspectives. The researching of my self enabled deep reflection on my teaching philosophy, supported early academic writing and facilitated relationships with staff who acted as critical friends and mentors. This promoted the implementation of an effective teacher education pedagogy through structured, reflective, and evidence-led modifications to practice. This article creates awareness of the broader role of a teaching portfolio for teachers and teacher educators, in creating rich learning experiences for the pre-service teachers we teach.     

Experienced Early Childhood Teachers as Graduate Students: A Process of Change

This paper explores perceptions of professional identity among experienced early childhood educators (ECEs) who are novice students in a new master’s degree program in ECE. We sought to examine the changes experienced by these educators. The study used qualitative content analysis, which included an open-ended questionnaire that was administered twice to the participants: at the beginning of their first year of study and at the end of the second year. The findings indicate a change in the participants’ perceptions of their multi-dimensional professional identity. They began to examine the early childhood educational system with a critical point of view based on their academic and pedagogical conceptual vision, and became aware of the contingent political consequences. We believe this study will enable us to advance the ECE system and promote academic research conducted by professionals.