Textures of Transaction: Exploring the Heterogeneity in Primary Teachers’ Engagements with Mathematics Textbooks in Delhi

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-147
Author(s):  
Meghna Nag Chowdhuri

For more than a decade, government primary-school teachers in many parts of India have been using mathematics textbooks based on National Curriculum Framework 2005 (NCF 2005). While curriculum and textbook development is often debated, teachers’ use of textbooks does not receive enough attention in policy and research. This article, drawing from a multiple-case study of 10 teachers, using classroom observations and teacher interviews, explores different ways in which teachers use the Math-Magic mathematics textbook in Delhi’s government primary schools. The findings demonstrate heterogeneity in the ways in which teachers use textbooks, which are the dominant teaching resource in these schools. Teachers use different degrees of agency in textbook use—from avoiding the textbooks to designing their lessons. These are influenced by their views about the textbooks, as well as their institutional realities. Finally, this heterogeneity offers a useful approach to understanding textbooks, and their relevance to teaching beyond being viewed as teaching scripts.

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 116
Author(s):  
Fernando Guzmán-Simón ◽  
Juan Jesús Torres-Gordillo ◽  
Katia Caballero

This research addresses the types of assessment tasks, the assessment criteria, instruments and procedures of communicative competence used by primary school teachers in Andalusia. This multiple-case study drew on the experiences of teachers from four schools in the south of Spain. The data source has been the focus groups in which the teachers took part. The transcripts were analysed thematically by three researchers who devised a system of categories designed through an iterative process. The findings reveal the paucity of tasks used to assess reading, listening and oral expression. The study also shows the diverse problems faced by teachers when it comes to evaluating communicative competence. This paper highlights the need to rethink the curricular contents and the methods applied to assess communicative competence in primary schools.


2014 ◽  
pp. 9-17
Author(s):  
Dayle Anderson

The New Zealand Curriculum [NZC] identifies an understanding of science that supports informed citizenship as a major goal for the Science learning area. The Nature of Science strand, which explores how science itself works, is the overarching and compulsory strand in Science for Years 1–10. New Zealand primary schools vary in their choice of approach to science, but many employ generic inquiry approaches, most commonly aligned to information literacy processes, to address a range of learning areas, including Science. Experiences at primary level are formative for students in terms of their appreciation of science as a discipline. Key reports suggest that many New Zealand primary students’ experience of science is largely information based. This article draws on sociocultural learning theory and a multiple case study of science teaching in New Zealand upper-primary classrooms to propose that primary science educational experiences that reflect the discipline of science provide a range of opportunities for students to understand how science works, as is expected by NZC. Literature and findings from the study are used to suggest ways that primary teachers can support learning about the nature of science as part of their science programme.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-88
Author(s):  
Kati Pajari ◽  
Sari Harmoinen

Abstract Operating in today’s markets is challenging due to information overload and an expanding choice of products. Children also encounter these complex markets at an early age. Providing consumer education in schools is an excellent opportunity to enhance their ability to think critically and increase their awareness. However, it would be a mistake to ignore the interconnections between consumer education and entrepreneurship education, since active and innovative people are also a prerequisite for future development. Taking advantage of the opportunity to provide consumer education in schools requires teachers to be familiar with consumer issues. This article aims to discuss the perceptions and experiences that primary school teachers in Finland have regarding children’s consumer education in schools. This study was conducted using the phenomenographic qualitative method to analyse data from teacher interviews. The analysis revealed a set of categories that describes the various ways the participants perceive and experience children’s consumer education in schools. These categories include themes, actors, teaching methods and the challenges and expectations teachers relate to children’s consumer education. The findings of this study are worth exploring when planning how to support teachers’ consumer educational competences for a sustainable future. The authors consider that this article is especially valuable for curriculum planners, educators, consumer organisations and parents’ associations, because it shed light on teachers’ perspectives about consumer education.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 125-136
Author(s):  
Yoong Soo May ◽  
Fu Sai Hoe ◽  
Wong Wei Lun ◽  
Lijuan Shen

This study aims to examine the perceptions of primary school teachers in Malaysia regarding dyscalculia using a survey. The researchers conducted the study using a quantitative design. The survey data had been collected using a questionnaire. The survey data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The questionnaire was adapted from Chinn’s (2020) checklist for dyscalculia with permission from Professor Dr. Steve Chinn. Thirty Mathematics teachers from Year One to Year Three in primary schools were randomly chosen. The severity of dyscalculia were analysed by using means and standard deviations. In contrast, independent t-tests were used to compare the severity of dyscalculia between school locations, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the severity of dyscalculia between different school types. According to teachers’ perceptions, the difficulty level for dyscalculic pupils in our country is medium-high (M=3.684, σ=.994). There is no significant difference in dyscalculia severity between school locations (p=.243, p>.05). However, there is a significant difference in dyscalculia severity between school types (p=.007, p.05). Dyscalculic pupils need to be detected since primary schools. The future agenda for this study is to design and develop an instrument in order to detect the dyscalculic pupils among the population. The disparities in dyscalculia severity levels between school types and s are important for the Ministry of Education, educators, teachers, and researchers. This is because it will be useful to determine the allocations of funding and resources so that the learning capability for pupils with different learning abilities can be improved to the maximum.


Chapter 5 presents a case study that reports on the assessment of self-directed learning (SDL) in three schools categorized with the local curriculum framework, and three nearby schools with the International Baccalaureate's Primary Years Programme. Results of the investigation indicate that there is a link between curriculum and students' knowledge of, as well as their response to, instruction about SDL. The chapter ends with a discussion of the implications of curriculum emphasis on inquiry for students' SDL, and the opportunities that exist for using the assessment of SDL with local curriculum documents that aim to promote effective learning in primary schools.


2002 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Ghesquière ◽  
G. Moors ◽  
B. Maes ◽  
R. Vandenberghe

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 13-22
Author(s):  
Ha Thi Thanh Tran ◽  
Hung Thai Le

Teachers working with ethnic minority students who have different language and cultural background from their own may have little knowledge of their students in out-of-school context. This lack of students’ knowledge and resources outside of the school may lead to deficit thinking regarding this non-dominated group as intellectually and academically deficient. Underachievement and low study engagement by HMông ethnic minority students in disadvantaged primary schools in Vietnam evidence a need for more effective teaching practices to support these minority students’ learning and reduce inequality within their educational environment. The funds of knowledge (FoK) approach attempts to overcome teachers’ perceptions of ethnic minority students and their knowledge through learning about these students’ FoK and incorporating these insights into the teaching practices. The purpose of this study is to explore how Kinh teachers identify HMông students’ sources of FoK in order to support their teaching/learning practices. This research employs qualitative educational research method together with case study method to examine the way Kinh primary teachers identify HMông students’ sources of FoK. The findings indicate that Kinh primary teachers identified HMông students’ different sources of FoK that the teachers could beneficially be drawing on to empowering HMông children’ participation, achievement and Kinh teachers’ teaching practices.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (86) ◽  
Author(s):  
Larysa Vozniak ◽  

Case study is one of the active approaches to learning, which is considered a more effective way to develop professional skills and achieve learning outcomes than traditional teaching methods. However interactive teaching methods require more responsibility, innovation of the primary school teacher and involvement of students in the educational process. The article examines the problem of introducing into the practice of primary school teachers the method of studying situations (case study) as a promising method of forming an educated, creative personality. The expediency of using case-based technologies for the formation of vital competence junior student, improving the quality of education in primary schools. Case study is considered by specialists as a method of interactive learning that provides a combination of theory with practice and knowledge with competencies. This method allows to implement the learning process in primary school on fundamentally different methodological approaches. Features, types, forms and other methodical characteristics of cases are considered, the structure of lessons in elementary school with use of a case method is described. The problems of introduction of the method in the educational process of primary school are also described. It is characterized by the means of the teacher's work in the context of the use of case-methods in more educated students. It was found solutions such research tasks as – understanding of the case as a multi-functional technologies; – characterization of educational opportunities Case technology; Studying of its content, the main types of structure in terms of achieving the objectives of formation of vital competence of the younger schoolboy. Тhe basic components of this technology are analyzed. It is noted that the work with cases in the classroom allows applying the theoretical knowledge to solve practical problems, helps to develop students' independent thinking, linking theory with practice. The work with cases is creative and is a determiner of the high level of teaching.


2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 141
Author(s):  
Ruth N. Dlamini ◽  
Moses Onyemaechi Ede ◽  
Chinedu Ifedi Okeke

The purpose of this study was to explore post-corporal punishment challenges facing Eswatini primary school teachers when disciplining learners and the necessary counselling services. The research employed embedded research design using 48 primary teachers in the Hhohho region in the Kingdom of Eswatini. A purposive sampling was used to select the most accessible research participants. Instruments used were questionnaires and one-on-one interviews. Sixteen schools were selected. Data was collected and analyzed both quantitative and qualitatively. For analyzing data for questionnaires and observation, descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages were used and for analyzing data for interviews, thematic analysis was used. Findings show that teachers are facing challenges regarding learner discipline in post corporal punishment in primary schools. Teachers are confused and afraid of infringing learners’ rights. Given the findings, some notable recommendations were highlighted.


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