Changing Conceptions of Effective Teacher Education: The journey of a novice teacher educator

This article examines my three-year journey developing a personal pedagogy of teacher education. As an autobiographical self-study, nodal moments are revealed that raise and reflect the tensions I experienced and the challenges I encountered. These included developing an awareness of my incomplete understandings of key components of teacher education, particularly the importance of fostering critical reflection. Acknowledgement of the benefits and complexities of first facilitating and later assessing reflective practice followed next. My transformation from a confident school-board resource teacher to an uncertain teacher educator, who reiteratively questions her practices as she comes to understand and teach to promote conceptual change, resonates with the uncertain terrain of teacher education. I explore the implications of this self-study by discussing the need for support, suggesting that teacher educators, particularly part-time instructors, be provided with opportunities to examine their teacher education beliefs. I recommend self-study groups as vehicles for this support.     

大学生高学习焦虑的成因分析及调适

大学生的高学习焦虑会给学生的学习和身心健康带来不利的影响,因而教育者应该知道引起大学生高学习焦虑的原因,从而能够帮助他们去调适。引起高学习焦虑的原因有客观和主观两方面,针对原因,提出了以下几点调适的建议：首先,对于由社会环境造成学生高学习焦虑的方面,应该抵制社会不良因素影响,为学生学习创造和谐的外部环境;其次,对于学校方面的原因,应该积极开展心理健康教育工作,完善心理咨询机构及其功能;最后,因为学生自身心理而引起的高焦虑,就应该通过学生自身的努力,来自觉地控制和调节高焦虑。     

Cultivating sustained teachers’ professional learning within a centralised education system

This study investigates how sustained professional learning for teachers within a centralised system was cultivated. Specifically, the sustained professional learning was initiated by officers from the headquarters (HQ) and involved interested teachers across schools in Singapore. Qualitative instruments were used to collect and analyse the data in examining the partnerships perceived by the participants. The enablers responsible to bring about sustained professional learning are proposed. A contribution of this study is to clarify how resources in the HQ and its schools can be bridged. Deliberate bridging of resources is critical particularly at the initial stage of the partnerships. This bridging is made possible through dedicated appointed champions. The appointed champions are passionate about the educational innovations and are willing to invest their time to understand the teachers’ needs. This paper argues that the enablers can offer opportunities for lateral networks to be forged within a hierarchical system.