University teacher educators’ research engagement: Perspectives from Saudi Arabia

This paper examines university teacher educators’ engagement with and in educational research. Survey results collected from eighty-two teacher educators at a leading university in Saudi Arabia pointed to modest levels of research activity and also suggested that these individuals held largely technical views of what research is. Their assessments of their institutional research culture also signalled a perceived gap between the research productivity expected of them and the support they received from their university. The implications of these findings for promoting research activity among university teacher educators, where this is considered desirable, are discussed.     

Developing a pedagogy of mutuality in a capability approach: Teachers’ experiences of using the Open Educational Resources (OER) of the teacher education in sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA) programme

The TESSA (teacher education in sub Saharan Africa) programme aims to improve teacher education at scale by developing open educational resources (OER) that allow sustainable and locally managed pedagogical change in higher education institutions and schools. The article offers a sociocultural theoretical rationale for the pedagogy of mutuality represented in the TESSA OER; and for the research approach to understanding pedagogical change that recognises the dialectical relationships between national policies and institutional structures and practices, and the consequent impact of these on teachers’ practice and pupils’ learning. It reports from an interview-based enquiry, from the project¹ ‘Extending and embedding TESSA OER’, looking at how teacher educators at a Kenyan University served to broker changes in pedagogy within the institution and its partner schools. Two school-based cases are discussed that highlight the role teachers, who take up these pedagogical challenges play in further brokering change in their local institutions; some of the influences that support the process of institutional change are identified and how these are understood and reported to increase access and enhance learning for all pupils.     

Teachers' perceptions of the recent curriculum reforms and their implementation: what can we learn from the case of Korean elementary teachers?

This study examines: 1) how Korean elementary school teachers perceive recent curriculum reforms; 2) where their perceptions emanate from; and 3) what support teachers need in order to implement curriculum reforms actively and effectively. This study has shown that teachers generally harbour negative and unconstructive feelings about curriculum reform. These feelings negatively impact their involvement in and commitment to implementing reform. Several issues to be considered for teacher training and support evolved from our analysis of teachers' perceptions of the curriculum reform and the implementation: first, teachers are insufficiently provided with professional development programmes that support curriculum implementation; second, teachers lack opportunities to work through implementation problems and difficulties with peer teachers; and last, contextual and cultural constraints inhibit implementation of curriculum reform. Based upon these findings, this study makes several suggestions for teacher educators and curriculum policymakers.     

Dancing in the ditches: reflecting on the capacity of a university/school partnership to clarify the role of a teacher educator

This paper used the data collected from reflective diaries, semi-structured interviews and surveys to identify and examine common themes identified in the roles required and/or perceived for teacher educators by both teachers and teacher educators. Collaboration, discussion and critique enabled personal reflection as teacher educators worked as partners to schools in a state-sponsored teaching and learning skills project. We have termed the collaboration in such an interactive project as one of ‘dancing in the ditches’, often requiring both groups to get out of their comfortable spaces and engage with each other in constantly moving situations. The teacher educators were required to be change agents at the interface of theory and practice and their experiences reflected individual journeys, but their reflections have ongoing implications for clarifying and professionalising the role of teacher educators.     

Theoretical Backgrounds:

No abstract available for this article.     

Greek male early childhood educators: self and societal perceptions towards their chosen profession

In choosing to become early years teachers, men are positioned in a context which is numerically dominated by women. Male early years teachers may feel they experience difficulties, being induced into a predominantly female culture. The present study intended to examine whether Greek male early childhood educators experience difficulties. More precisely it has a twofold aim: on the one hand to explore Greek male early childhood educators' perceptions of their chosen profession; on the other to explore how different social groups encountered the entry of those males into that profession. Concurrent with previous international research results, the present study suggests that there are males who love working with young children and are committed to early childhood education and thus, as in other countries, in Greece too male childcare workers experience difficulties and mistrust of their choice.     

高校青年教师教育素养探析

教育素养是教师素养的重要组成部分,文章从高校青年教师教育素养的缺失入手,分析了提高高校青年教师教育素养的三个层面：树立教育理念、提升教育智慧、催生教育情意,并提出提高高校青年教师教育素养的策略,以期更好的提高高校教学质量。     

Pressure From Above

The author of this guest editorial discusses the new perinatal standards endorsed by the National Quality Forum and goals to improve the health of all Americans announced by the National Priorities Partnership. She discusses the impact of the standards and goals on maternity care and what childbirth educators can do to help implement the standards and advance the goals.     

Safe,Healthy Birth: What Every Pregnant Woman Needs to Know

In spite of technology and medical science''s ability to manage complex health problems, the current maternity care environment has increased risks for healthy women and their babies. It comes as a surprise to most women that standard maternity care does not reflect best scientific evidence. In this column, evidence-based maternity care practices are discussed with an emphasis on the practices that increase safety for mother and baby, and what pregnant women need to know in order to have safe, healthy births is described.