“Bumpy moments” in teaching: Reflections from practicing teachers

During the complex teaching act, there are moments that require teachers to engage in reflection to make critical decisions about how to respond to particular problems in practice. The present investigation provides a stimulus for capturing these reflections as four elementary practicing teachers are asked to describe their “bumpy moments” in teaching. Analysis of the 19 “bumpy moments” identified offers insights into the thoughts, knowledge, and beliefs that these teachers are considering during their practice. Results have implications for capturing reflection during teaching, ongoing practicing teacher professional development, and preservice teacher education.     

Soft and hard variables in determining pre‐service teachers' intentions and decisions to pursue a special education career

This study examined the roles of hard variables and soft variables in determining college teachers' intentions to pursue a special education career and education majors' actual decisions to major in special education. This study surveyed 243 college students taking special education courses at a state university, including 213 education majors. The survey questions included four blocks of variables, pertaining to demographics, training and work experience, soft variables (i.e., personal connections to people with disabilities, personal value and commitment and perceived social support) and hard variables (i.e., estimated salary, workload, professional development opportunities and job security). Results suggest that (1) after controlling for other variables, hard factors such as salary did not add significant contributions to college students' intention or education majors' actual action to pursue a special education career; (2) soft variables, such as value, commitment to special education and perceived social support, significantly predicted college students' intention to pursue a special education career, but did not significantly influence education majors' actual decision to choose a special education program, and (3) workloads significantly affect education majors' decisions making decisions of enrolling in a special education program. Implications are discussed about the importance of enhancing soft‐variable aspects of working conditions for special education recruitment and retention.     

Elaborating a model of teacher professional growth

This paper details a model of teacher professional growth and relates the model to the research data on which the model is empirically founded. A key feature of the model is its inclusion of four analytic domains in close correspondence to those employed by Guskey (Educational Researcher 15(5), 1986) and others, but the model proposed in this paper identifies the specific mechanisms by which change in one domain is associated with change in another. The interconnected, non-linear structure of the model enabled the identification of particular “change sequences” and “growth networks”, giving recognition to the idiosyncratic and individual nature of teacher professional growth. One major value of a change model grounded in empirical data lies in its capacity to stimulate speculation, research and development regarding possible change mechanisms as yet unexplored and unexploited. In its current form, this model offers a powerful framework to support the analyses of those studying teacher change (or growth) and the planning of those responsible for teacher professional development.     

Supporting university content specialists in providing effective professional development: the educative role of evaluation

Evaluation of professional development (PD) has traditionally been composed of summative and formative feedback, and has focused on assessing the extent to which the PD impacts participating teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and practices. This study establishes an additional purpose for PD evaluation – as educative opportunities for professional developers, particularly for PD providers who are university-level content specialists (e.g. scientists, mathematicians, statisticians, engineers). Through analysis of data collected as state-wide evaluators for one US Midwest state’s Improving Teacher Quality Grant PD programs, and utilizing an analysis methodology which we term ‘recommendation traces,’ we examine formative evaluation recommendations that we made to four different PD projects over three years. Findings from this study shed light on how content specialists who work in PD projects can learn about effective PD through project evaluation efforts.     

Linking the private and public: teacher leadership and teacher education in the reflexive modernity

This study attempts to reveal the process of teacher leadership (TL) and its implications for teacher education. Two rounds of interviews, including focus group interviews with six chosen schools in Taiwan, were conducted to reveal the process. It was found that the development of TL is a stretching process from the key leader to core members, then to general followers, and the pattern of development is a process of assemblage from the private side to the public side. It is also argued that the private resource of TL (e.g. recognising the complexity of inner experiences, the ontic vulnerability and the needs of others) is contributive to educational creativity and reform. Finally, the private–public-integrated model and three strategies of articulation (internal, theoretical–practical-situated and external) are proposed conceptually and practically for further development of teacher education and educational change.     

试论教师应对现代远程教育教学冲突必备的能力

随着现代远程教育的发展,不可避免地在教学中产生各种冲突,从而对教学进程产生一定影响。在现代远程教育教学中,教师应具备应对冲突的能力:注重层次的导学能力,兼顾个性的策划能力,循序渐进的渗透能力,重点明晰的助学能力。教师应对冲突能力的有效途径为:注重实现远程教育的商品化,充分体现教师在“教育社区”的核心作用,探索灵活性学习支持方式的实现途径,加强渗透式人文教育的教学尝试。     

Teachers’ and pupils’ perceptions of science–technology learning environments

During recent decades, educational research has dealt with the contribution of the learning environment to the accomplishment of educational goals, such as improvement of academic achievement and motivation. In this research, an intervention program was implemented into the learning environment of science–technology classes at the junior high school level (Grades 7–9, 12–15 years old) in Israel. The intervention included a three-year workshop involving 224 hours each year. The teachers (N = 22) were required to reflect on their experiences using a portfolio that described their actual teaching experiences for relevant discussions at the workshop. Quantitative and qualitative tools were used to examine the teachers’ implementation of new teaching/learning and assessment methods or new subject matter, that were addressed by the workshop in their classes, and to identify learning environment characteristics and learning outcomes according to teachers’ perceptions. Differences were found between teachers’ and pupils’ perceptions of the impact of learning environment characteristics on learning outcomes.     

‘I need to be strong and competent’: a narrative inquiry of a student-teacher’s emotions and identities in teaching practicum

In teacher identity research, limited attention has been paid to how pre-service teachers constructed their identities by negotiating with different emotions in their practice. To fill this gap, the present study, drawing upon the approach of narrative inquiry, explores how a student-teacher – Ming – negotiated and navigated conflicting emotions in the process of becoming a teacher. The findings show that while Ming experienced some negative feelings in his work, which challenged his self-belief as a teacher, the positive emotions derived from his students’ progress and recognition contributed to his teacher identity. However, due to the constraints imposed by his mentor and the school context, his negative emotions gradually escalated, posing severe impediments to his teacher identity. The emotional flux and identity change of the student-teacher can be attributed to his professional learning in the structural and cultural working conditions with hidden ‘emotional rules’ embedded in the practicum school. This paper argues for the inclusion of teacher emotions as an indispensable part of pre-service teacher education.     

Moderating effects of executive functions and the teacher–child relationship on the development of mathematics ability in kindergarten

Academic preparedness, executive function abilities, and positive relationships with teachers have each been shown to be uniquely important for school readiness and success in the early elementary grades. Few studies, however, have examined the joint influence of these readiness variables on early school outcomes. Using data from a prospective longitudinal sample of 1292 children and families in predominantly low-income and rural communities, we found that executive function at child age 48 months and a higher quality relationship with the kindergarten teacher each uniquely moderated the effect of math ability in preschool on math ability at the end of kindergarten. This effect was seen for math ability as measured by the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten (ECLS-K) mathematics assessment battery but not the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement Applied Problems subtest. For children with lower math ability in preschool as assessed by the ECLS-K Math battery, higher executive function abilities and a more positive relationship with the kindergarten teacher were each associated with a higher than expected level of math ability in kindergarten. Conversely, lowest levels of math ability in kindergarten were observed among children with low math ability in preschool and poor executive function or a less positive relationship with the kindergarten teacher.     

Combining the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of teaching sustainability: the case of the business school academics

Abstract

Faculty are key to bringing about ‘bottom-up’ change for sustainability education. Yet, research is still needed on the backgrounds and experiences of change agents in universities and the challenges they face. This study focuses on the marketing discipline, a field fraught with epistemological tensions in seeking to integrate sustainability, mainly revolving around profit maximisation and continuous consumption while living on a planet with finite resources. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with sustainability marketing academics in Australasia, Europe and North America. The contribution of this paper lies in the development of a sustainability educator typology linking why and how integration occurs. The sustainability ‘transformer’ wishes to engage in transformational learning, changing student mindsets, the ‘thinker’ wants to encourage critical thinking to bring about the discussion of worldviews, while the ‘actioner’ hopes ‘learning by doing’ (community projects) will provide an appreciation for sustainability. We discuss implications for those disciplines which struggle with philosophical tensions and colleague resistance to the integration of sustainability in the form of suggestions for professional development (i.e. creation of positive nature experiences) and pedagogical approaches (critical, transformative and community-service learning).