Drivers and Blockers: Embedding Education for Sustainability (EfS) in Primary Teacher Education

2012 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Primary Teacher ◽  
Education For Sustainability ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
International Trends ◽  
Primary Teacher Education ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
School Curricula

AbstractThe growing emphasis on sustainability in school curricula in Australia reflects international trends in education. Teacher education is a vital strategy for the incorporation of Education for Sustainability (EfS) in school curricula. Research to identify drivers and barriers to embedding EfS across a primary teacher education program in an Australian university is the focus of this article. Using a mixed methods approach, data were gathered through document and unit outline audits, a self-efficacy pre-service teacher (PST) survey, and staff and PST focus group interviews. The audits identified a foundation of EfS principles and content across units. Lecturers identified societal and personal drivers and blockers to embedding EfS across the course, with lack of time considered the biggest blocker, which is also consistent with existing school-based research on the nature of teachers' work. PST responses described successful learning outcomes; however, confidence towards teaching sustainability varied. PST reported that the incorporation of community networks in their course provided enriching experiences. Embedding EfS involves values, sustainability concerns and appropriate knowledge and skills. Successful implementation will depend on the development of appropriate understandings of teacher educators.

scholarly journals Framing heuristics in inclusive education: The case of Uganda’s preservice teacher education programme

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Proscovia S. Nantongo
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teacher ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Daily Practice ◽  
Education Programme ◽  
Primary Teacher ◽  
Primary Teacher Education ◽  
Group Interviews

Background: Recent education-related research has raised concerns about the persistent exclusion of vulnerable learners in Uganda. The Revised Primary Teacher Education Curriculum of 2013 marked an ambitious yet inconclusive attempt to advance the implementation of inclusive education but has encountered deeply entrenched sociocultural exclusionary practices among education experts.Objectives: This study aimed to explicate education practitioners’ interpretations of Uganda’s flagship inclusive education programme in preservice primary teacher education.Method: Drawing on the conceptual vocabulary of frame analysis and the qualitative analysis of individual and group interviews and classroom observations, the interpretations of inclusive education implementation in preservice primary teacher education in Uganda were examined. The participants included policy design experts, curriculum design experts and classroom practitioners.Results: Three main findings emerged. Firstly, interpretations of inclusive education displayed a narrow framing heuristic of inclusive education as a perfunctory, daily practice rather than a pathway for reflective, inclusive pedagogical engagement. Secondly, the heuristic encouraged the treatment of inclusive pedagogy as a ‘label’ under a specific rubric referring to sensory impairments or disabilities – a historical device for sociocultural exclusion. Thirdly, inclusive education was a praxis but was misframed from its original intentions, causing tension and resentment among practitioners. These findings contribute to the debates on the sustainability of inclusive education beyond preservice teacher education.Conclusion: Uganda’s flagship inclusive education programme in preservice primary teacher education was fraught with tensions, ambiguities and an overt, urgent need for change.

scholarly journals The Use of Bilingual Methods through Scientific Approach at Integrated Subject to Improve the Student’s English Skills

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 00040
Author(s):  
Cholifah Tur Rosidah ◽  
Suryaman
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Education Program ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Action Observation ◽  
Primary Teacher ◽  
Primary Teacher Education ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Planning Action

This study was aimed to know the PGRI Adi Buana Surabaya primary teacher education program student’s English skill after being applied through scientific approach at integrated subject. Therefore, this study was conducted to support the student’s readiness in facing globalization era and international challenge, also created competent, superior, and high character. This study was an action research which conducted in two cycles. There were four steps namely planning, action, observation or evaluation and reflection. The subject of this study was 40 students of C class 2015. The data obtained was analyzed through descriptive analytic static. The result showed that there was 32, 74% enhancement of the student’s English skills after applied bilingual method through scientific approach. That enhancement could be seen on the average result of the cycle I which showed 47, 58% as a low category and increased to 80, 32% at cycle II as good category.

Sustainability Education and Teacher Education: Finding a Natural Habitat?

2012 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Buchanan
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Sustainability Education ◽  
Primary Teacher ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Assessment Tasks ◽  
The Social ◽  
Teaching Learning

AbstractSustainability education competes for curricular space, both in schools and in teacher education. Opportunities and barriers for the inclusion of sustainability education in an Australian university primary teacher education program are examined in this article. The study focused on the roles, practices and perceptions of teacher educators in promoting sustainability education. Three focus groups were conducted with members of faculty staff from each of the K–6 Key Learning Areas to gather data, which were analysed according to three frameworks: espoused/aspirational and actual practices of staff members; barriers to and affordances for teaching sustainability education; and the nature of initiatives, in terms of teaching/learning activities, assessment tasks, and resources. Beyond the Social Sciences, and Science and Technology, we found that inclusion of sustainability education is somewhat sporadic. The article proposes some ways forward to promote and abet sustainability education in a tertiary context.

scholarly journals Not All Finns Think Alike: Varying Views of Assessment in Finland

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashleigh Franco
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Primary Teacher ◽  
Standardized Assessments ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
The Past ◽  
Primary Teacher Education

Finnish students have been among the world’s strongest performers on standardized assessments throughout the past decade. Consequently, educators and scholars are interested in how to explain such results. A common explanation, as seen on social media, is that Finnish educators do not regularly assess their students. This study explores educators’ views on assessment practices in Finnish education. First, the literature on assessment practices in Finland is reviewed. Then, using narrative inquiry as a research method, Finnish educators’ views on assessment practices are examined. The research participants were two professors, two novice teachers, and two pre-service teachers, all connected to the same prominent university-based primary teacher education program in Finland. The narratives of the six participants in connection with assessment in Finland’s education system highlight the variance in opinions about international standardized assessments as well as assessment practices at the classroom and school levels. Further, participants’ narratives reveal the influence students’ socioeconomic status may have on teachers’ assessment practices.

scholarly journals Organising the ‘industrialisation of instruction’: Pedagogical discourses in the Swedish Primary Teacher Education programme

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-59
Author(s):  
Lena Sjöberg
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Education Programme ◽  
Primary Teacher ◽  
Local Policy ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
Primary Teacher Education ◽  
Pedagogical Discourses ◽  
Empirical Material

This study examines the organisation of the Swedish Primary Teacher Education (PTE) programme by studying a local educational policy practice. The empirical material consists of policy documents and interviews with teacher educators at a large university. The study focuses on the pedagogical discourses in teacher education, by studying whether the examinations, courses, and education are based on insulation or integrating principles, that is, strong or weak classification. The results of the study show that both the national policy text and the local organisation are based on principles and rationalities of strong classification, where the local policy practice is both constructed through and affected by commodification and market rationalities.

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