Capturing the Complexity of Practice: A self-study in the context of engineering education

This article is based on a project in which a teacher educator, acting as a critical friend, worked with six engineering teachers in a Masters program in Machine Engineering in order to stimulate their reflection on their own teaching and learning as a way of developing their scholarship of teaching. The article draws particular attention to ways of expressing the learning from self-study in order to illuminate the complexities of teaching and to begin to encourage the articulation of the scholarship of teaching as a consequence of a collaborative experience. The results highlight how making teaching visible through the use of self-study offers new ways to capture the complexity of practice, which in this article is considered to be an important aspect of developing the scholarship of teaching.     

Obituary: Irwin T. (Toby) Holtzman (August 29, 1927–July 31, 2010)

This article is an obituary for Irwin T. (Toby) Holtzman, friend and donor to many libraries.     

强化体育教师角色意识当好中学生的良师益友

体育教育在现代素质教育中,具有特殊的重要作用.本文仅从体育教师在教学中扮演多重角色的角度,探讨其如何当好学生的良师和益友.     

The ‘critical friend’ role in fostering reflective practices and developing staff cohesion: A case study in a new secondary school,New Zealand

This exploratory case study, arising from a longitudinal project into the establishment of a new secondary school in New Zealand, examines reflective practice through critical friend roles among staff. The paper describes, through the lens of Bourdieu's logic of practice, the implementation of a critical friendship approach linked to the school leaders’ vision and aim regarding learning within open classroom spaces as part of a modern learning environment. Reflective practice involves critiquing, rethinking and reframing existing professional practices, often through a critical friendship approach among school staff within a fostered collaborative and open culture. The researchers interviewed six participants (four leaders and two teachers), observed how the teaching and learning took place in the new open classroom spaces, and reviewed blog posts and the school's website. Findings reveal that critical friendship, as a way to develop staff cohesion, is fostered and supported by the school leaders’ vision and actions, while the physical geography of the new classroom spaces, and the redesign of learning, also make this easier to enact. Staff cohesion, trust and openness to peer scrutiny are hallmark of this emerging school culture. These emerging findings provide some insights into how one new school culture develops cohesion with its stated vision and mission.     

‘Challenge and support’: the role of the critical friend in continuing professional development

Abstract

In this paper, the writer, a senior teacher in a comprehensive school, describes his role as a critical friend to two teachers who were undertaking self‐initiated action research projects as part of a school‐based, award‐bearing curriculum development scheme offered in conjunction with the local higher education institute (HEI). He concludes that such a relationship, in providing both challenge and support for colleagues who are attempting to improve practice, is a powerful vehicle for the professional development of teachers and has a positive impact on whole‐school development.     

Blurring the boundaries: connecting research,practice and professional learning

Educational researchers can incorporate benefits for themselves and teacher participants by planning for interactions between research, practice and teachers’ professional learning from the outset of a project. However, the dual role of a researcher as a professional learning partner has rarely been explicated and theorised in studies of teacher–researcher relationships. The study described in this paper occurred in the context of early childhood education. The notion of a critical friend was extended and validated as a useful theorisation of the relationship. Four ways that I acted as a critical friend are described. The expertise, roles, boundaries and hybridity of a co‐constructed approach to research are discussed. The importance of a researcher as critical friend having research and theoretical knowledge to shift teacher knowledge and practice is argued. Implications for teacher–researcher partnerships in terms of strengthening coherence between research, practice and professional learning are suggested.     

浅析高校辅导员的多重角色与新型师生关系

尝试从学生朋友的角度探讨了辅导员与学生之间建立新型师生关系的相关问题。首先,对辅导员的学生朋友角色的基本特征进行了阐述,并对辅导员成为学生朋友的可能性进行了分析。随后,具体分析了辅导员成为学生的朋友、建立高校师新型师生关系所存在的诸多问题及其原因。最后,提出了一些可行性建议。     

何者可友、友者何人？

通过梳理历来对于“无友不如己者”的各种解释,分析孔子对于朋友之交的观点,进而认为孔子的友爱思想的核心是“与朋友交而有信”,而至于与何人交、交者何人则是次要的问题。当然这不是说只要“与朋友交而有信”就可以忽视与何人交这个问题,这就涉及到见贤思齐,见不贤而内自省的问题。但只要“忠信”这个思想核心没有被埋没,孔子的友爱思想就会显得清楚明了。     

民国时期大学教授与学生的关系及其启示

共同的理想信念、自由的探究精神及独特的教学风格是民国大学良好师生关系形成的基础。师生以学问为旨趣,教授前导,学生从游,朝夕相处,相互交流,关系融洽。教授对学生进行学业引领,关心爱护学生,为学生推荐工作。师生之间通过面对面交流、书信往来及联谊活动,形成了亦师亦友的密切关系,见之温馨,思之感动。反思当今,要构建和谐的师生关系,教师应担当育人使命、关心爱护学生、培育学生学术兴趣、加强与学生的联系和沟通。