scholarly journals Telling stories: engaging critical literacy through urban legends in an English secondary school

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Jones ◽  
Katie Chapman
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Beginning Teachers ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Secondary English ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Urban Legends

Purpose Non-dominant voices have been further marginalised in the most recent national curriculum in England (DfE, 2014), and those working across the English teaching profession often find the subject framed according to narrow, assessment-driven models and prescribed skill sets. This paper aims to bring together two perspectives on the importance of literacy education that remains rooted in young people’s everyday experiences of place. Design/methodology/approach Chapman is a newly qualified secondary English teacher. She will share examples taken from her own classroom practice of the ways in which she has responded to stories told by young people about the places in which they live. Findings Jones is a tutor of initial teacher education (ITE). She suggests that Chapman’s approach provides persuasive exemplification of how engagement with alternatives to a dominant view of literacy should remain a key objective for those working with beginning teachers of English. Originality/value For Chapman’s students, urban legends are powerful texts which offer the means to explore what we do when we tell stories, both inside and outside the English classroom. As will be shown, such stories are telling examples of the resources young people can bring to critical literacy learning in current classrooms. In the context of the dominance of a narrow, mandated experience of English as a subject, the imperative becomes even greater to recognise stories such as those shared by Chapman’s students as opportunities for authentic, creative and critical engagement with text.

Mentor–mentee relationships as anchors for pre service teachers’ coping on professional placement

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-86
Author(s):  
Anat Wilson ◽  
Minh Huynh
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Coping Styles ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mentoring Relationship ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Coping Scale ◽  
Negative Coping

Purpose Mentor–mentee relationships are important for individual wellbeing, mental health, professional agency and confidence. In the context of an initial teacher education (ITE) programme, these relationships become a key factor. Pre-service teachers’ capacity to cope on a professional placement is closely linked to the quality of the mentoring relationship. The purpose of this paper is to identify the negative coping strategies used by pre-service teachers who struggle to cope in a school placement in Melbourne, Australia, highlighting the importance of providing quality mentorship. Design/methodology/approach A mixed-methods approach was used for the analysis of pre-service teachers’ coping on a teaching practicum and to identify common related beliefs. A total of 177 pre-service teachers, who have completed at least one supervised practicum participated in this study. The Coping Scale for Adults second edition (CSA-2) was administered alongside an open-ended questionnaire to identify frequently used coping styles and associated thoughts and beliefs. Findings The results show that pre-service teachers who favour non-productive coping strategies were more likely to express feelings of loneliness, pointed at poor communication with their mentor and described thoughts about leaving the teaching profession. Originality/value Using the Coping Scale for Adults in the context of practicum provides an insight into individual experiences. The implications of mentor–mentee relationships for individuals’ coping are highlighted. initial teacher education programs and schools have significant roles in supporting mentor–mentee relationships and practical supportive interventions are offered.

scholarly journals Beginning teachers’ perceptions of mentors and access to communities of practice

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 317-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha Shields ◽  
Megan Murray
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Training ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Beginning Teachers ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Legitimate Peripheral Participation ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
School Based

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore beginning teachers’ perceptions of the role of the mentor in the early stages of developing a professional identity. The beginning teachers in the authors’ study are defined as having been awarded qualified teacher status at the end of an initial teacher education programme or having completed their first term as a new teacher with responsibility for a class of pupils. Design/methodology/approach The research design was a qualitative, inductive study. The concepts of communities of practice, legitimate peripheral participation and power dynamics within a community underpinned this study. The data set was collected over a period of 18 months, through six focus groups and 40 questionnaires with beginning teachers across 34 schools altogether. The data set was analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). Findings The findings indicated that the ways in which mentors use their power to recognise (or not) the legitimacy of beginning teachers as being part of the school community influences the development of beginning teachers’ professional identities. The thematic analysis of the data indicated the different types of support that mentors may provide: “belonging”, “emotional”, “pedagogical” and “space”. Research limitations/implications Further research into how mentors perceive their role in supporting new entrants into the profession is needed. Originality/value These findings are pertinent in England, as the increase in school-based initial teacher training provision will intensify the role of school mentors. These findings will be of value to other countries that are moving towards an increase in school-based teacher training.

scholarly journals Beginning Teachers, Schools and Diversity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Vijaya Muralidharan
Keyword(s):  
Beginning Teachers ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Student Diversity ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
The Road ◽  
Multiple Data ◽  
Grounded Theory Approach

<p>As the field of education world-wide is explicitly striving to make schools and education available to all children and young persons, classrooms are becoming increasingly diverse in terms of language, culture, religion, gender, abilities, socioeconomic status and geographic setting. This rapidly growing phenomenon has educators trying to grapple with ways to prepare and support teachers to be responsive to the diverse needs of students in their classrooms. In New Zealand, cultural diversity is also growing rapidly. By the middle of this century nearly half the student population will be of Pasifika origin. Those opting into the teaching profession must be equipped to confront this reality. While initial teacher education can provide opportunities for student teachers to critically examine their own beliefs and orientation towards diversity, and also provide a snapshot of the reality of classrooms through practicum, it is when they begin actual teaching in schools that the "rubber hits the road". This ethnographic study explores the beliefs and attitudes of beginning teachers about student diversity and possible influences of the primary school culture on their perceptions and practice. Seven beginning teachers were involved in the study over a period of 6-18 months. Multiple data sources were used and data was thematically analysed across the settings using a grounded theory approach.</p>

scholarly journals Critical literacy and critically reflective writing: navigating gender and sexual diversity

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-364
Author(s):  
Navan Nadrajan Govender
Keyword(s):  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Reflective Writing ◽  
Sexual Diversity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Literacy Course ◽  
Second Year ◽  
To Come ◽  
Relations Of Power ◽  
The Impact

Purpose In this article, the author draws on Janks’ territory beyond reason as well as literature on (critically) reflective writing. The purpose of this paper is to explore how a space for personal, affective writing in the classroom might enable teachers, students and learners to 1) come to terms with gender as a social practice, 2) locate themselves in the relations of power, marginalisation and subversion being explored and 3) negotiate the internal contradictions that come with personal and social transformation. The author presents and unpacks how second-year undergraduate Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) students at a prominent university in Johannesburg, South Africa, unpacked issues of gender and sexual diversity in a critical literacy course. This paper focuses on students’ completion of a reflective writing task but is situated in a broader study on critical literacy and gender and sexual diversity. The findings suggest the need for sustained critically reflective writing in the classroom and continued research on critical literacy as both a rationalist and affective project. Furthermore, the findings suggest ways in which critically reflective writing was used to create a space where students could place themselves into the content and relations of power being studied and identify and unpack the ways in which discourses of power have informed their own identities over time, with the intent to develop the capacity to position themselves in more socially conscious ways. This study, therefore, illustrates only a fraction of how students might use reflective writing to come to terms with controversial topics, place themselves in the systems of power, explore marginalisation or subversion and negotiate the internal contradictions of transformation. However, the data also suggest that there is potential for this practice to have a greater role in classroom practice, a deeper effect on learners’ understanding of self and society and further research on the impact of critical reflection in the classroom. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the author presents and unpacks how second-year undergraduate B.Ed. students at a prominent university in Johannesburg, South Africa, unpacked issues of gender and sexual diversity through reflective writing in a critical literacy course. Findings The findings suggest the need for sustained critically reflective writing in the classroom and continued research in critical literacy as both a rationalist and affective project. The students who participated in this research revealed the ways in which critically reflective writing might be used to create a space where students place themselves into the content and relations of power being studied, identify and unpack the ways in which discourses of power have informed their own identities over time, and, perhaps, develop the capacity to position themselves in more socially conscious ways. Research limitations/implications While the findings reveal the need for continued practice and research in the territories beyond a rationalist critical literacy, they are based on a small data set in a single context. Practical implications Findings from the analysis of the data suggest that there is potential for critically reflective writing to have a greater role in classroom practice, a deeper effect on learners’ understanding of self and society and further research on the impact of critically reflective writing in the classroom. Perhaps a sustained practice of critically reflective writing is what is needed, as well as processes of self and peer evaluations that put that writing up for critical analysis. Social implications There is scope for further, long-term research in the role of critically reflective writing, critical literacy classrooms and the territory beyond reason across social issues and educational contexts. Existing resources on critically reflective writing are vital for imagining what this prolonged practice might look like in classrooms (Ryan and Ryan, 2013; Lui, 2015; Pennell, 2019). Originality/value The data presented here are limited and illustrate only a fraction of how students might use reflective writing to come to terms with controversial topics, place themselves in the systems of power/marginalisation/subordination/subversion being explored and negotiate the internal contradictions of transformation. However, these data also suggest that there is potential for this practice to have a greater role in classroom practice, a deeper effect on learners’ understanding of self and society and further research on the impact of critical reflexivity in the classroom.

scholarly journals Black male student teachers: tomorrow’s teachers?

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uvanney Maylor
Keyword(s):  
Student Teachers ◽  
Black Male ◽  
Male Student ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Teachers Experiences ◽  
Black Male Student

Purpose This paper aims to understand the preparation that a group of black male pre-service students received during their course and its impact on their willingness to commit to entering the teaching profession. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on findings from a small-scale qualitative study of black and minority ethnic student teachers’ experiences in one initial teacher education institution. Findings The paper raises questions as to whether black pre-service teachers’ experiences of a lack of acceptance in schools during their pre-service training contribute to the under-representation of black male teachers in English schools. Originality/value There is limited research on the experiences of black male student teachers. The paper brings new insights and offers reasons for black male student teachers not entering the teaching profession.

Bridging the gap for beginning teachers: researcher as mentor

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Andries D'Souza
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Beginning Teachers ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
Figured Worlds ◽  
Support Network ◽  
Legitimate Peripheral Participation ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Questioning Strategies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the benefits of an unintended mentoring relationship between researchers and beginning teachers during a longitudinal, qualitative study. The study highlights the opportunity for teacher preparation to serve as a bridge to close the gap in learning between the relatively theoretical world of teacher preparation and practical world of classroom teaching. Design/methodology/approach – The study analyzed extensive qualitative data relating to two beginning teachers over a five-year period. As a theoretical framework this study drew from Lave and Wenger's (1991) theories of legitimate peripheral participation and communities of practice. In addition, significant parallels were drawn to applications of figured worlds (Holland et al., 1998) which addressed the manner in which teachers were able to “figure themselves” into teaching contexts. Findings – This study provides support for developing communities of practice to bridge the gap of support between teacher preparation and the teaching profession. The engagement and design of the support remains crucial as the study recommends creating a support network between two individuals with an established, trusting relationship and comparable theoretical groundings. Finally, the relationship must be built around non-evaluative, questioning strategies which encourage teacher inquiry. Originality/value – Although the long-term relationship between university researcher and participant remains somewhat rare, it is important to highlight the mentoring potential – and associated benefits – of such relationships. The established trust and bridge of ideas between a researcher and a participant completing preparation at the same university are key factors in successful support. This study is relevant for teacher preparation programs and professional development organizations as they work to more effectively support beginning teachers’ transition into the profession.

Student voice in secondary schools: the possibility for deeper change

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 473-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana Mitra
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Student Voice ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to consider the role of student voice in secondary school reform. Design/methodology/approach Through a literature review, it defines the concept of student voice within bodies of research on youth participation internationally. Findings It notes the ways the USA is distinct and lagging behind. It then looks at the broadening scope of ways that young people have become involved in change efforts. It considers ways that student voice can deepen implementation efforts and strengthen classroom practice. It breaks this discussion into: outcomes for classroom instruction, organizational change, and the relationship between student voice and power. The paper ends with a discussion of the importance of attending to issues of power in youth–adult relationships, including ways to avoid the co-optation of young people. Originality/value This paper reviews the most recent work showing how student voice can impact change, with a particular focus when possible on urban secondary schools to fit with this special issue. It updates a previous review of the field conducted ten years ago (Mitra, 2006). Before beginning this review, however, it is important to understand how student voice varies across global contexts.

Contested territories

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerry-Ann O’Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Government Regulation ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Educational Practice ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Teaching Standards ◽  
Professional Aspirations

Purpose Increasing government regulation of educational practice with public accountability through a national curriculum and external testing, the establishment of professional teaching standards and associated teacher accreditation requirements are strong forces in contemporary Australian education. This paper aims to identify and examine some of the current governmental policies and the associated institutionalised requirements for initial teacher education within this particular context. Design/methodology/approach It focuses particularly on preservice English teachers, and in addressing these issues, there is an exploration of the contested territory of the subject English, the key factors affecting initial teacher education students and the effects of professional standards on educators. Findings It is argued that there is a need for a much broader vision of educational purpose, a richer construction of subject English than is defined by the testing of traditional literacy skills and productivity outcomes, with a greater empowerment of teachers whose achievements are increasingly limited by narrow accountability measures. Originality/value Formal accreditation demands appear to constrain the various multimodal practices and creative, collaborative pedagogies that enhance educational experiences in the twenty-first century. The challenge ahead for educators is to find a balance between the contemporary pressures of a global society, external expectations, professional aspirations and personal values.

scholarly journals Beginning Teachers, Schools and Diversity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Vijaya Muralidharan
Keyword(s):  
Beginning Teachers ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Student Diversity ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
The Road ◽  
Multiple Data ◽  
Grounded Theory Approach

<p>As the field of education world-wide is explicitly striving to make schools and education available to all children and young persons, classrooms are becoming increasingly diverse in terms of language, culture, religion, gender, abilities, socioeconomic status and geographic setting. This rapidly growing phenomenon has educators trying to grapple with ways to prepare and support teachers to be responsive to the diverse needs of students in their classrooms. In New Zealand, cultural diversity is also growing rapidly. By the middle of this century nearly half the student population will be of Pasifika origin. Those opting into the teaching profession must be equipped to confront this reality. While initial teacher education can provide opportunities for student teachers to critically examine their own beliefs and orientation towards diversity, and also provide a snapshot of the reality of classrooms through practicum, it is when they begin actual teaching in schools that the "rubber hits the road". This ethnographic study explores the beliefs and attitudes of beginning teachers about student diversity and possible influences of the primary school culture on their perceptions and practice. Seven beginning teachers were involved in the study over a period of 6-18 months. Multiple data sources were used and data was thematically analysed across the settings using a grounded theory approach.</p>

Making macaroni: classroom improv for transformative embodied critical literacy

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-478
Author(s):  
Kimberly Lenters ◽  
Alec Whitford
Keyword(s):  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Sixth Grade ◽  
Literacy Practice ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Critical Literacies ◽  
Study Methodology ◽  
Language Arts Classrooms

Purpose In this paper, the authors engage with embodied critical literacies through an exploration of the possibilities provided by the use of improvisational comedy (improv) in the classroom. The purpose of this paper is to extend understandings of critical literacy to consider how embodied critical literacy may be transformative for both individual students and classroom assemblages. The research question asks: how might improv, as an embodied literacy practice, open up spaces for critical literacy as embodied critical encounter in classroom assemblages? Design/methodology/approach The authors used case study methodology informed by post-qualitative research methods, and in particular, posthuman assemblage theory. Assemblage theory views the world as taking shape through the ever-shifting associations among human and more-than-human members of an assemblage. The case study took place in a sixth-grade classroom with 28 11-year-olds over a four-month period of time. Audio and video recordings provided the empirical materials for analysis. Using Bruno Latour’s three stages for rhizomatic analysis of an assemblage, the authors mapped the movements of participants in an assemblage; noted associations among those participants; and asked questions about the larger meanings of those associations. Findings In the sixth-grade classroom, the dynamic and emerging relations of the scene work and post-scene discussion animate some of the ways in which the practice of classroom improv can serve as a pedagogy that involves students in embodied critical literacy. In this paper, the authors are working with an understanding of critical literacy as embodied. In embodied critical literacy, the body becomes a resource for that attunes students to matters of critical importance through encounter. With this embodied attunement, transformation through critical literacy becomes a possibility. Research limitations/implications The case study methodology used for this study allowed for a fine-grained analysis of a particular moment in one classroom. Because of this particularity, the findings of this study are not considered to be universally generalizable. However, educators may take the findings of this study and consider their application in their own contexts, whether that be the pedagogical context of a classroom or the context of the empirical study of language and literacy education. The concept of embodied literacies, while advocated in current literacy research, may not be easy to imagine, in terms of classroom practice. This paper provides an example of how embodied critical literacies might look, sound and unfold in a classroom setting. It also provides ideas for classroom teachers considering working with improv in their language arts classrooms. Practical implications The concept of embodied literacies, while advocated in current literacy research, may not be easy to imagine, in terms of classroom practice. This paper provides an example of how embodied critical literacies might look, sound and unfold in a classroom setting. It also provides ideas for classroom teachers considering working with improv in their language arts classrooms. Social implications The authors argue that providing students with critical encounters is an important enterprise for 21st-century classrooms and improv is one means for doing so. As an embodied literacy practice, improv in the classroom teaches students to listen to/with other players in the improv scene, become attuned to their movements and move responsively with those players and the audience. It opens up spaces for critically reflecting on ways of being and doing, which, in turn, may inform students’ movements in further associations with each other both in class and outside the walls of their school. Originality/value In this paper, building on work conducted by Author 1, the authors extend traditional notions of critical literacy. The authors advocate for developing critical learning opportunities, such as classroom improv, which can actively engages students in critical encounter. In this vein, rather than viewing critical literacy as critical framing that requires distancing between the learner and the topic, the posthuman critical literacy the authors put forward engages the learner in connecting with others, reflecting on those relations, and in doing so, being transformed. That is, through critical encounter, rather than only enacting transformation on texts and/or material contexts, learners themselves are transformed.

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