Biopower,disciplinary power,and the production of the 'good Latino/a teacher'

This inquiry explores who is the ‘good teacher of color’. Through Michel Foucault's notion of biopower and disciplinary power, the analysis attempts to problematize the subject-position of ‘teacher of color’ by exploring how a Latino intern and a Latina intern negotiated their subjectivity in a large diverse school district. Participants' construction of subjectivity was found to be located within the nexus of the school district, the university, and the Latino counter-discourse through which biopower and disciplinary power operated.     

Development of mentor teacher role inventory

This study aimed to develop and investigate the validity and reliability of the Mentor Teacher Role Inventory (MTRI). A total of 1843 student teachers in the Distance English Teacher Training Program participated in the study. The 58 items of the Mentor Teacher Role Inventory underwent principal factor analysis, which revealed nine factors relating to mentorship and explained 52.971% of the total variance. The KMO value of the MTRI was calculated as .968. The Cronbach's alpha was .951. These results indicated that a reliable and valid MTRI could be used for both the distance English teacher training programme and other distance teacher education programmes.     

The lost promise of teacher professional development in England

This paper explores three influences on the effectiveness of teacher professional development for improving schools – the individual teacher, the learning activities in which teachers participate and the structures and supports provided by schools for teacher learning. It does so by relying on survey data collected for a national study of teacher professional development in England. The analysis indicates that while the professional development of teachers in England is generally ineffectual and lacks school level systems and supports, the professional development and supports for professional learning by teachers in high performing schools display many of the characteristics associated with effective professional learning. Given the results showing a link between school factors and professional learning and the lack of influence of individual teacher factors, the paper concludes that the previously reported importance of school capacity in influencing learning and improvement is supported by the findings.     

Research engagement and educational decentralisation: problematising primary school English teachers’ research experiences in China

Teachers are encouraged to enhance professional competence through reflective practice and they are also asked to undertake research to generate evidence for their professional practices. This paper reports on an inquiry into a group of primary school English language teachers’ research engagement in the province of Guangdong on the Chinese mainland. The inquiry explored the effect of educational reforms on the participants’ research engagement through the use of an open‐ended questionnaire and group interviews. The inquiry revealed that research engagement had become an important part of the teachers’ professional lives. Emerging findings from the inquiry also problematised their research engagement as it was found to have been undermined by a competitive promotion mechanism, the teachers’ conceptualisations of research and challenges in the knowledge dissemination process. The paper ends with reflections on how to make teacher research “educational” for teachers and serve as an effective way for professional development.     

Teaching practices prior and subsequent to 1998 in Turkey: Gazi University Vocational Education Faculty case

This study aimed to compare teaching practice before and after 1998 in Turkey. Participants were 10 academics from the Department of Educational Sciences, Vocational Education Faculty, Gazi University and nine vocational high school cooperating teachers. Semi‐structured interviews were analysed by using content analysis. The most significant findings were that the preparation, practice, observation, counselling and evaluation processes were more efficient before 1998 due to the smaller number of preservice teachers. After 1998, the cooperating teachers were legally included in the process and took more responsibility. A new model which combines the positive aspects of both practices is suggested in the article.     

A model for incorporating lesson study into the student teaching placement: what worked and what did not?

This article describes a model for incorporating lesson study into the student teaching placement and reports on the success of the implementation of such a model with student teachers and their cooperating teachers (CTs). Student teachers had the opportunity to discuss many important ideas with each other and their CTs, including “big ideas” of mathematics, and the anticipation of student questions and possible responses. Student teachers also had a built‐in opportunity for peer observation on a regular basis and the opportunity to collaborate with their peers. Certain important aspects of lesson study were not present in this implementation: the teachers involved did not discuss the gaps in their own knowledge with the goal of improving their own mathematical understanding, they did not refer outside sources for ideas for the lessons, and they did not have an overarching affective goal for students. Suggestions are made for teacher preparation in light of these findings.     

Negative school factors and their influence on math and science achievement in TIMSS 2003

The aim of the present study was to conduct an analysis of TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) 2003 database and to determine how negative school factors, such as aggression, are associated to the mathematical and science achievement of students. The analyses were conducted separately for national and international data. National analyses for Slovenia show significant associations between math and science achievement and the experience of aggressive behaviour. Students who experienced aggressive behaviour scored lower in math and science, both in the fourth and in the eighth grade. The results of the regression analysis show that negative factors, such as aggressive behaviour, are good predictors of educational achievement in Slovenia. International analyses for the selected countries (high‐ and low‐achieving countries from the whole TIMSS population) confirm that this type of finding is culturally impartial as well as valid for the level of achievement both in math and in science.     

新课程下英语教师的现状及对教师教育的启示

对在职英语教师所做的一项调查显示：传统教师教育阶段的课程没有为师范生今后从事外语教育教学准备必要的语言学和外语教育学研究意识;传统教师教育课程未能给师范生留下持久有效的影响;教师教育没有为师范生后天可持续发展所需核心能力提供充分有效的训练。因此,教师教育需要从单纯培养知识技能型外语人才转向培养应用型研究人才;要重新审视实践的作用,调整实践结构,加大实践比重,协调好理论讲解与实践经验的关系;要培养学生具有后天可持续发展能力,尤其要重视训练其自我反思的能力。     

外语教师公民意识现状分析与研究

一项关于福建省中学英语教师公民意识现状的研究表明：外语教师公民意识表现在其认识不清和知识不足,特别是其权责意识、民主意识和法律较为薄弱。外语教师普通公民意识薄弱的原因在于教师教育与公民意识教育没有相互兼容,即其知识基础和职前教育课程设置中缺乏公民意识教育的相关内容。     

教师教育一体化的反思与教育学院发展的选择

本文综合相关研究和实际情况评估了教师教育一体化的进展和存在的问题,提出了教师教育一体化分一体化设计、一体化实施、一体化评估三环节的观点,阐述了真正实现一体化的三点重要认识,在此基础上,提出和论述了研究教师发展规律、建立教师专业标准、有组织地进行分阶段培养培训目标与课程设计、解决教育理论与实践的结合、对培养培训机构加大支持和协调力度5项促进一体化实现的策略,并基于教师教育一体化的趋势、结合教育学院的实践,分析预测了教育学院的发展前景和策略选择。