scholarly journals Exploring ‘Next Practice’: Principals’ Perceptions of Graduate Skills and Attributes for Future Classrooms

2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Angela Fitzgerald ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Best Practice ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Secondary School Principals ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Graduate Preparation ◽  
Personal Wellbeing ◽  
Principals Perceptions ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Primary And Secondary School

The phrase ‘next practice’ was coined to indicate a shift from the notion of best practice to thinking more broadly about the needs of future learners and the ways in which teaching practice might align to support these needs. In understanding what next practice means for the classroom, this study was particularly interested in examining how initial teacher education (ITE) could respond through their graduate preparation. The presented data presented is derived from an Australian small-scale qualitative study that sought to explore principals’ perceptions of graduate skills and attributes for future classrooms which captured the perspectives of six primary and secondary school principals using in-depth interviews. Emerging from these subsequent narratives were seven themes that could be clustered around areas such as affective attributes, pedagogical considerations and personal wellbeing. In providing insights into the skills and attributes required by future teachers, this work raises questions how ITE providers might respond.

The State Policy towards the Homeless in Moldova between the ‘Left Hand’ and the ‘Right Hand’. The Case of Chișinău Shelter

Südosteuropa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-195
Author(s):  
Petru Negură
Keyword(s):  
Homeless People ◽  
Severe Disabilities ◽  
The State ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Left Hand ◽  
Right Hand ◽  
Binary Approach ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right ◽  
Depth Interviews

Abstract The Centre for the Homeless in Chișinău embodies on a small scale the recent evolution of state policies towards the homeless in Moldova (a post-Soviet state). This institution applies the binary approach of the state, namely the ‘left hand’ and the ‘right hand’, towards marginalised people. On the one hand, the institution provides accommodation, food, and primary social, legal assistance and medical care. On the other hand, the Shelter personnel impose a series of disciplinary constraints over the users. The Shelter also operates a differentiation of the users according to two categories: the ‘recoverable’ and those deemed ‘irrecoverable’ (persons with severe disabilities, people with addictions). The personnel representing the ‘left hand’ (or ‘soft-line’) regularly negotiate with the employees representing the ‘right hand’ (‘hard-line’) of the institution to promote a milder and a more humanistic approach towards the users. This article relies on multi-method research including descriptive statistical analysis with biographical records of 810 subjects, a thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with homeless people (N = 65), people at risk of homelessness (N = 5), professionals (N = 20) and one ethnography of the Shelter.

BEYOND THE TOURIST EXPERIENCE: ANALYZING THE IMAGINATION OF PLACE AND TRAVEL IN EVERYDAY LIFE

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Identity Work ◽  
The Self ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Individual State ◽  
Imaginary World ◽  
Tourism Research ◽  
State Of Mind ◽  
Depth Interviews

This article advocates a new agenda for (media) tourism research that links questions of tourist experiences to the role and meaning of imagination in everyday life. Based on a small-scale, qualitative study among a group of seventeen respondents of diverse ages and backgrounds currently residing in the Netherlands, we offer an empirical exploration of the places that are of importance for people’s individual state of mind and investigate how these places relate to (potential) tourist experiences. The combination of in-depth interviews and random-cue self-reporting resulted in the following findings: 1) all our respondents regularly reside in an elaborate imaginary world, consisting of both fictional and non-fictional places; 2) this imaginary world is dominated by places which make the respondents feel nostalgic; 3) in this regard, the private home and houses from childhood are pivotal; 4) the ‘home’ is seen as topos of the self and contrasted with ‘away’; 5) the imagination of ‘away’ emerges from memories of previous tourist experiences, personal fantasies and, last but not least, influences from popular culture. We conclude that imagining and visiting other locations are part of a life-long project of ‘identity work’ in which personal identities are performed, confirmed and extended. By travelling, either physically or mentally, individuals anchor their identity - the entirety of ideas about who they are, where they come from and where they think they belong - in a broader, spatial framework.

Two facets of returnees’ entrepreneurship in Romania: Juxtaposing business owners and self-employed return migrants within a multi-method research framework

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-194
Author(s):  
Alin Croitoru
Keyword(s):  
Return Migration ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Business Owners ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
Original Survey ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
European Migration

This paper contributes to the growing literature on the diversity of return migration by analysing the different types of small-scale entrepreneurship among returnees. Data from an original survey conducted among Romanian returnees and in-depth interviews with returnees in entrepreneurship are combined to reveal distinct profiles of returnee entrepreneurs and to illustrate their specific ways of thinking about entrepreneurship and migration. Currently, Romania is one of the most fertile settings to research intra-European return migration due to its important flows of temporary international migrants. The paper highlights that there are major differences between business owners and self-employed returnees in terms of entrepreneurship. Returnees who are business owners are those who benefited significantly more from migration than non-entrepreneur returnees—in terms of economic savings, human capital accumulation, and enhancement of their stocks of social capital; while returnees in self-employment reveal no significant differences for these migration outcomes compared to non-entrepreneur returnees. The distinction between the two groups of entrepreneurs has certain implications for origin states’ policies oriented towards stimulating return migration through programmes oriented towards returnees’ entrepreneurship. Keywords: Return Migration; Intra-European Migration; Entrepreneurship; Self-Employment; Multi-Method Social Research. „„„„ Articolul contribuie la literatura dedicată diversității migrației de revenire prin analiza unor tipuri diferite de antreprenoriat în rândul migranților reîntorși în țara de origine. Pentru a documenta profilurile specifice ale migranților care sunt antreprenori după revenire, sunt combinate date culese printr-un sondaj cu migranți reveniți în România și interviuri de profunzime cu migranți care au statutul de antreprenori după revenirea din străinătate. În prezent, România reprezintă unul dintre contextele excelente pentru cercetarea migrației de revenire datorită fluxurilor importante de migranți temporari internaționali. Lucrarea subliniază o serie de diferențe majore între migranții reveniți care au deschis mici afaceri și cei care lucrează pe cont propriu (de exemplu, sub formă de persoană fizică autorizată). Pe de o parte, migranții reveniți care dețin mici afaceri sunt cei care au beneficiat semnificativ mai mult din experiența de migrație comparativ cu reveniții non-antreprenori, în termeni de bani economisiți din migrație, acumulare de capital uman în străinătate și reconfigurarea capitalului social. Pe de altă parte, compararea profilurilor celor care lucrează pe cont propriu cu non-antreprenorii nu arată diferențe semnificative între cele două categorii în termeni de resurse acumulate prin experiența de migrație. Distincția dintre cele două tipuri de antreprenori poate avea implicații pentru politicile statelor de origine orientate către stimularea migrației de revenire prin programe centrate spre antreprenoriatul migranților reveniți. Cuvinte-cheie: migrație de revenire; migrație intra-europeană; antreprenoriat; angajare pe cont propriu; cercetare multi-metodă.

scholarly journals “This is why students feel lost when they go into teaching practice”: English Language Teachers’ Views on their Initial Teacher Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 371-387
Author(s):  
Sue Garton
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
English Language ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Significant Shift ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Research

The last 20-25 years have seen a significant shift in the views about what teachers need to know to be able to teach. This shift has led to new developments in the theory of second language teacher education (SLTE) and a growth in research in this area. One area of research concerns the attitudes and expectations of those learning to become teachers. While most studies in this area focus on teacher education programmes in BANA countries, this article looks at data from student teachers studying in Russia and Uzbekistan. The study employed a quantitative and qualitative research design, using a researcher-designed on-line questionnaire. Through snowball sampling, data from 161 students and recent graduates in the two countries were collected, analysed, and compared to investigate the content of SLTE programmes. The study identified what the novice teachers felt were the strengths and weaknesses of their programme, and what changes they would like to see. Results showed that while the respondents were mainly satisfied with their methodology, and theoretical linguistics courses, they felt the need for more practice, both teaching and language practice. The data also revealed that, in Uzbekistan in particular, the idea of global English struggles to take hold as native-speaker models remain the norm. The implications of the study underline the need for SLTE to explicitly link theory to practice and to promote the idea of varieties of English, rather than focus on native-speaker norms.

scholarly journals “Maybe English first and then Balinese and Bahasa Indonesia”: A case of language shift, attrition, and preference

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-99
Author(s):  
Siana Linda Bonafix ◽  
Christine Manara
Keyword(s):  
Family Background ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Socioeconomic Factor ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Linguistic Identity ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Frequency Of Contact ◽  
The Family ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
Depth Interviews

This small-scale qualitative study aims to explore the participants’ view of languages acquired, learned, and used in their family in an Indonesian context. The two participants were Indonesians who came from multilingual and mixed-cultural family background. The study explores three research questions: 1) What are the languages acquired (by the participants’ family members), co-existed, and/or shift in the family of the two speakers? 2) What factors affect the dynamicity of these languages? 3) How do the participants perceive their self-identity? The qualitative data were collected using semi-structured and in-depth interviews. The interviews were audio-taped and transcribed to be analyzed using thematic analysis. The study detects local language shift to Indonesian from one generation to the next in the participants’ family. The data also shows several factors for valorizing particular languages than the others. These factors include socioeconomic factor, education, frequency of contact, areas of upbringing (rural or urban) and attitude towards the language. The study also reveals that both participants identify their self-identity based on the place where they were born and grew up instead of their linguistic identity.

scholarly journals Technical Efficiency and Small Scale Maize Producers in Mwanza Region: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mukole Kongolo
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Stochastic Frontier Analysis ◽  
Stochastic Frontier ◽  
Likelihood Estimation ◽  
Estimation Procedure ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Maize Production ◽  
Frontier Analysis

This study measured technical efficiency and its determinants in maize production by small-scale producers in Mwanza region, using a stochastic frontier production function approach. A randomly selected sample of participants in the two districts was used. The Maximum Likelihood estimation procedure was followed to obtain the determinants of technical efficiency and technical efficiency levels of small-scale maize producers. The minimum and maximum values of technical efficiency were between 20% and 91%, indicating that the least practices of specific producer operates at a minimum level of 20%, while the best practice producers  operate  at 91% technical efficiency  level respectively. The summary results of the mean technical efficiency was 63%. The main determinants of technical efficiency were labour, farm size, producer’s experience, producer’s age, family size which were all positive and statistically significant. The findings suggest that the average efficiency of small-scale maize producers could be improved by 37% through better use of existing resources and technology. These findings highlight the need for action by government to assist small-scale maize producers improve efficiency.

scholarly journals Aproximación a la competencia digital docente en la formación profesional

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (67) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristóbal Suárez Guerrero ◽  
Alicia Ros Garrido ◽  
Jorge Lizandra
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Learning Assessment ◽  
Digital Competence ◽  
Digital Ecosystem ◽  
Competence Level ◽  
Teaching Competence ◽  
Self Learning ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Aprendizaje Colaborativo ◽  
Competencia Digital

El mundo requiere personas con conocimientos, habilidades y actitudes que permitan un desarrollo completo de la ciudadanía en un ecosistema digital. Una respuesta educativa a esta exigencia social es la competencia digital. Así, esta finalidad exige niveles óptimos de desarrollo de la Competencia Digital Docente (CDD), en especial en el sector de la Formación Profesional (FP). Con la idea de atender este contexto educativo, en este trabajo se propone un marco de comprensión que integra de forma unitaria la visión sobre la pedagogía, los recursos y la evaluación para entender, evaluar y proponer mejoras en la competencia digital del profesorado de FP. Empleando un enfoque cualitativo, se realizaron once entrevistas en profundidad sobre la CDD del profesorado de FP de la provincia de Valencia (España). Estos datos fueron analizados desde la caracterización de 4 escenarios educativos con tecnología (aprendizaje individual, la enseñanza con TIC, aprendizaje colaborativo y autoaprendizaje del alumnado). La principal conclusión detectada es que los docentes entrevistados tienen conocimientos de algunos recursos y aplicaciones tecnológicas, actitud y capacidad para incorporarlos a su práctica docente. En cambio, no integran la tecnología en la evaluación de los aprendizajes al mismo nivel competencial que en las otras dimensiones. World requires people with knowledge, skills and attitudes that allow a full development of citizenship in a digital ecosystem. An educational response to this social demand is digital competence. Thus, this purpose requires optimal levels of Digital Teaching Competence (DTC), especially in the Vocational Education Training (VET) sector. With the aim of ​​attending to this educational context, this work proposes a understanding framework that integrates the vision of pedagogy, resources and evaluation to understand, evaluate and propose improvements in the digital competence of VET teachers. Using a qualitative approach, eleven in-depth interviews were conducted on the DTC of VET teachers in the province of Valencia (Spain). These data were analysed from the categorization of 4 educational scenarios with technology (individual learning, teaching with ICT, collaborative learning and student self-learning). The main conclusion detected is that interviewed teachers have knowledge of some technological resources and applications, attitude and ability to incorporate them into their teaching practice. However, they do not integrate technology in the learning assessment at the same competence level as in the other dimensions.

scholarly journals Practice-Focused Research in Initial Teacher Education

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Abbiss ◽  
Eline Vanassche
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Theoretical Contribution

A review of the field of practice-focused research in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) reveals four broad genres of qualitative research: case studies of teacher education programs and developments; research into student teacher experience and learning; inquiry into teacher educators’ own learning, identity, and beliefs; and conceptual or theory-building research. This is an eclectic field that is defined by variation in methodologies rather than by a few clearly identifiable research approaches. What practice-focused research in ITE has in common, though, is a desire on the behalf of teacher educator researchers to understand the complexity of teacher education and contribute to shifts in practice, for the benefit of student teachers and, ultimately, for learners in schools and early childhood education. In this endeavor, teacher educator researchers are presented with a challenge to achieve a balance between goals of local relevance and making a theoretical contribution to the broader field. This is a persistent tension. Notwithstanding the capacity for practice-focused research to achieve a stronger balance and greater relevance beyond the local, key contributions of practice-focused research in ITE include: highlighting the importance of context, questioning what might be understood by “improvement” in teacher education and schooling, and pushing back against research power structures that undervalue practice-focused research. Drawing on a painting metaphor, each genre represents a collection of sketches of practice-focused research in ITE that together provide the viewer with an overview of the field. However, these genres are not mutually exclusive categories as any particular research study (or sketch) might be placed within one or more groupings; for example, inquiry into teacher educators’ own learning often also includes attention to student teachers’ experiences and case studies of teacher education initiatives inevitably draw on theory to frame the research and make sense of findings. Also, overviewing the field and identifying relevant research is not as simple as it might first appear, given challenges in identifying research undertaken by teacher educators, differences in the positioning of teacher educators within different educational systems, and privileging of American (US) views of teacher education in published research, which was counteracted in a small way in this review by explicitly including voices located outside this dominant setting. Examples of different types of qualitative research projects illustrate issues in teacher education that matter to teacher educator researchers globally and locally and how they have sought to use a variety of methodologies to understand them. The examples also show how teacher educators themselves define what is important in teacher education research, often through small-scale studies of context-specific teacher education problems and practices, and how there is value in “smaller story” research that supports understanding of both universals and particularities along with the grand narratives of teacher education.

scholarly journals The Effect of Problem Solving Course on Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs about Problem Solving in School Mathematics and Themselves as Problem Solvers

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-159
Author(s):  
Ljerka Jukić Matić
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Mathematics Teachers ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Heuristic Strategies ◽  
Teachers Beliefs ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Problem Solvers ◽  
Positive Effect

Problem solving in schools begins with mathematics teachers. The degree to which mathematics teachers are prepared to teach for, about and through problem solving influences on their implementation of problem solving in school. We conducted a small scale study where we examined the effect of implementation of heuristic strategies and Polya’s steps in mathematics method course. We assessed pre-service teachers’ knowledge and attitudes about them as problem solvers before and after the course. Moreover we assessed their beliefs of problem solving in school mathematics. Those beliefs were assessed in two occasions: right after the course and after finished teaching practice. Although students’ knowledge on problem solving was improved, the results of students’ beliefs show that it is important that pre-service teachers, and consequently in-service teachers, are constantly reminded on the positive effect of constructivist and inquiry-based approach on teaching mathematics.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document