Mapping pre-service teachers’ evolving information and communication technologies pedagogy

The research examined the nature and scope of e-portfolio reflective writing by primary pre-service teachers about their classroom implementation of information and communication technologies. Familiar and new technologies require a teacher to be able to confidently identify the pedagogical potential for effective learning and teaching. With the author as a teacher educator, uncovering of aspects of commonality and patterns of emphasis in pre-service teachers’ reflective writing prompted reconsideration of established education practice. A qualitative thematic coding approach was adopted using an initial stimulus of Mezirow et al.’s notions of transformational learning: content, process and premise reflection. Extracts were coded by case, structurally and thematically using qualitative analysis software. Distinct categories emerged from cycles of analysis and a comprehensive typological map was created that provided insights into pre-service teachers’ emergent pedagogic thinking in relation to their use of technology whilst on school placements. The research led to revised scaffolding prompts, particularly in relation to premise reflection, for pre-service teachers engaged in reflective writing as a tool to transform and enrich their pedagogical understanding of the interplay between technology, teaching and learning.     

Managing Information and Communication Technology in South African Classrooms: Pre-Service Teachers’ Experiences

This article reports on a study that explored the management of information and communication technology (ICT) in teaching and learning. In particular it focuses on the use of ICT in the pre-service teacher’s classroom in the South African context. The study was interventionist in that pre-service teachers were trained how to use ICT in teaching and learning, and were then followed into the teaching practice classroom where they were observed as to how they used the technology and managed it. Data for the project was also collected through semi-structured interviews with the pre-service teachers and through the researchers’ reflection. The results showed that the pre-service teachers, who in this case were all digital natives, are willing to use ICT for teaching, but lack the skills to manage ICT in the classroom. The results further showed that the motivation to use and integrate ICT in the classroom may not be sufficient to ensure the effective integration thereof, that is, the teachers still require management. Further, the article recommends the importance of higher education institution lecturers as role models in the use and management of ICT.     

Metacognition of young readers in an early intervention programme

This qualitative study was designed to investigate the metacognitive behaviour displayed by young children during their involvement in a reading intervention program, using videotapes of both intervention sessions and stimulated recall to access metacognition. The children demonstrated a wide range of metacognitive behaviour consistent with models of metacognition for older children proposed by researchers such as Flavell (1979) and Paris (Cross and Paris, 1988). Most metacognitive responses during intervention sessions involved self-regulation whereas responses during stimulated recall tended to reflect metacognitive awareness of reading strategies. Results support the need to use multiple measures of metacognition with young children as well as the need for further research on the relationship between metacognition and reading achievement of children in reading intervention programmes.     

The SES equity gap and the reform from modular to linear GCSE mathematics

This article addresses whether the introduction of end-of-course, linear General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examinations changed the socio-economic equity gap in England. The GCSE is a national examination offered in a wide range of subjects and taken by almost the entire 16-year-old age cohort. Between the years 2007 and 2014, it underwent a number of reforms to both the underlying curriculum and the examination structure. At the beginning of the period, examinations were primarily modular in structure where the course was decomposed into discrete units tested in a staged manner. By 2014, all GCSE examinations were linear and the whole course content was tested simultaneously when study was complete. These structural changes and the curriculum reforms mean that the impact of modular and linear testing on the performance of students has been the focus of recent interest. Some educational commentators suggested that modular examinations are more suitable for lower-performing students, including those with lower socio-economic status (SES). This research has been conducted to monitor the socio-economic equity gap in the light of the structural changes. It focuses on GCSE mathematics and concludes that, although there is still a clear gap in attainment between disadvantaged students and their peers, this gap does not seem to be exacerbated by the examination structure. In other words, the linearisation of GCSE mathematics is unlikely to have increased inequity between students of high and low SES.     

Coping strategies and the influence of perceived parental support in junior national age swimmers

This study examines how national junior age group swimmers cope with poor performance and explores whether coping strategy use changes with perceptions of parental support. One hundred and four junior age group swimmers (mean age 14.2 years) completed a modified version of the COPE scale (Crocker & Issack, 1997) and the perceptions of Perceived Parental Support Scale (Van Yperen, 1995). Results showed that the swimmers in this sample used a mixture of behavioural and cognitive strategies with an emphasis upon individual or internally focused approaches. When analysing coping strategies and perceptions of parental support (high, medium and low), significant differences were found in the use of behavioural and cognitively orientated approaches. When perception of parental support was low, swimmers reported using less active and training-orientated mechanisms and a tendency to use strategies such as self-blame and venting of emotion. These findings suggest that the effectiveness and ability of coping strategies to adapt to differing situations may be contingent upon perceptions of perceived support for junior swimmers. This highlights an area for future research.     

The provision of higher education in regional areas: an integrative review of the literature

There is a great deal of literature surrounding the needs of regional Australia. This integrative review of the literature focuses on the experience of nursing academics teaching on a satellite campus, many of which are located in regional Australia. Four themes were identified: (1) challenges specific to regional satellite campuses, (2) student characteristics, (3) student experiences and (4) the academics’ experiences. These themes identified not only significant benefits but also considerable challenges to the provision of higher education on regional university campuses. The experience of nursing academics and indeed their students is remarkably different from the experience of their metropolitan counterparts, and therefore the local context needs to be considered in regional education provision. Australian regional nursing academics need to be multi-skilled to address the workload and social inequity in support service provision.     

The ‘messy’ business of academic developers leading other academic developers: critical reflection on a curriculum realignment exercise

Little has been written about academic developers (ADs) working in teams leading other ADs. This paper chronicles the experience of a group of ADs in one Australian university working on a curriculum realignment exercise. Unexpectedly the dominant theme in participants’ reflections was group dynamics, not the process. We were confronted by unstated assumptions about ADs working collaboratively and shocked to realise that ADs, like academics, resist change. Our interpretation of that ‘resistance’ was a salutary reminder of the extent to which academic development work reflects broader social, political, and institutional contexts and discourses. Parallels between this context and ADs working with academics are drawn.     

Evaluating learning

Summary It is essential that any system of assessment or evaluation arise from what we are trying to do, what we value, what we think to be important. In informal education, we value growth and development, we value interest and involvement, and this must be reflected in the records we keep. We know that young children are at the beginning of the educational process, they are finding out about school, what's in education for them personally; they are learning about learning, building up learning styles and strategies. It is a critical period where learning power can be built or shifted, where learning can be exciting and personal, or dull and irrelevant. On no account can we allow irrelevant evaluation tools to get in the way of learning.The notions put forward here are that assessment and forward planning are interdependent. Continuous assessment is an essential feature of informal education and it is the basis of day-to-day planning. Additionally, there needs to be a profile, or cumulative record, of all aspects of children's growth throughout their school life.Examples of children's work kept in a folder over a long period of time provide the fullest example of the variety and range of a child's work and his growing ability to represent it, in writing and through the use of creative materials. They provide a basis for reporting to parents that gives them real information about their own child's learning.It is important that informal class teachers should develop some framework against which to measure children's work. The Piagetian tests provide measures of children's growth in mathematical, logical and moral spheres. There are instruments developed for measuring developing complexity in written and spoken language. Reading can be assessed and a diagnosis made using a simple inventory and the miscue analysis. These approaches have real relevance to informal education and once teachers become familiar with them, they can be used without fuss, without creating artificial conditions, without designating failures, in the everyday interaction of teacher and child.A teacher who finds a child failing, having particular difficulties, should have available skilled help for expert diagnosis. The school health service and the psychological service offer this kind of help. Particularly, a child who shows no sign of beginning to learn to read should not go beyond 7 years without careful screening to ascertain any real physipal or psychological problem. His late start may be due to immaturity or lack of experience or low intelligence. It may be due to poor teaching, or changing schools. A skilled psychologist and a medical examination will eliminate or confirm the likelihood of any other problem.One of the most damaging misconceptions about informal education is that it is woolly and vague. We can counteract this accusation only if we can show a high degree:of professionalism, and evidence or real knowledge about what and how children are learning, and demonstrate our competence in assessing this learning as a basis for future planning. Moira McKenzie is warden of the Ebury Center for Language in Primary Education in London. Wendla Kernig is headmistress of a London primary school. This article is taken from their forthcoming bookThe Challenge of Informal Education,to be published this fall by Agathon Press.