scholarly journals History teachers’ pedagogical reasoning and the dynamics of classroom implementation in Ghana

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gideon Boadu ◽  
Debra Donnelly ◽  
Heather Sharp
Keyword(s):  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Classroom Practices ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Grand Narrative ◽  
History Teachers ◽  
Classroom Implementation ◽  
Pedagogical Reasoning ◽  
History Curriculum ◽  
School History ◽  
Depth Interviews

The Ghanaian senior high-school history curriculum encourages teachers to guide students to explore, question and construct historical interpretations, rather than accept established historical narratives. This study investigates how those teachers conceive and implement the curriculum intent by exploring their pedagogical reasoning and classroom practices. The project described in this paper draws from a range of investigative instruments including in-depth interviews, classroom observations, post-lesson interviews and teachers’ planning paperwork from 15 public senior high schools in Ghana’s Central Region. This research found that teachers’ pedagogical reasoning was consistent with constructivist educational theory as well as responsive to the history curriculum, but that their stated understandings did not align with classroom practice. The findings indicate limited constructivist strategies in history lessons, as most teachers were didactic in approach and tended to teach history as a grand narrative.

Tensions with international mindedness: teaching in the international baccalaureate program

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Fran Chernoff
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
International Baccalaureate ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Core Element ◽  
History Teachers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
History Curriculum ◽  
School History ◽  
Diploma Program

PurposeInternational mindedness (IM) is a core element of International Baccalaureate (IB) programs. Implementation of IM varies with the type of international school and where the IB school is situated. This article seeks to understand the tensions that three teachers experienced while teaching the IB Diploma Program history curriculum.Design/methodology/approachFor this study, three IB teachers examined their experiences teaching the history curriculum. This article offers relevant research on the difficulties in implementing IM and the following tensions: (1) situating the IB curriculum; (2) with hegemonic privilege and (3) in high-stakes testing.FindingsIM can be integrated into the history curriculum to make the history curriculum relevant for the global community. While each interviewee enjoys teaching in the IB program and believes the IB history curriculum offers opportunity for IM, they also feel the history curriculum would benefit from modification. Each interviewee's points of view bring a relevancy and an authenticity for why tensions exist when teaching IB diploma history.Originality/valueThere is a gap of research in how and to what extent teachers implement IM into the IB high school history curriculum. Further, teachers' views regarding the IB history curriculum and whether the history curriculum facilitates one's teaching IM is largely anecdotal. Thus, this study is unique in its offering three interviews by IB high school history teachers on IM and the tensions they feel when teaching about and attempting to implement IM.

CLIL as a pathway for cross-curricular and translingual classroom practices: A comparative quantitative study on Scottish and Spanish teachers’ views

2021 ◽  
pp. 136216882110324
Author(s):  
Xabier San Isidro
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Quantitative Study ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Classroom Practices ◽  
Research Tool ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Integrated Learning ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Pilot Testing ◽  
Final Questionnaire

Despite the numerous attempts to characterize Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), the specialized literature has shown a dearth of cross-contextual studies on how stakeholders conceptualize classroom practice. This article presents the results of a two-phase comparative quantitative study on teachers’ views on CLIL design, implementation and results in two different contexts, Scotland ( n = 127) and Spain ( n = 186). The first phase focused on the creation, pilot-testing and validation of the research tool. The second phase consisted in administering the final questionnaire and analysing the results. The primary goals were (1) to ascertain whether practitioners’ perceptions on CLIL effects and classroom practices match the topics addressed by research; and (2) to analyse and compare teachers’ views in the two contexts. The study offers interesting insights into the main challenges in integrating language and content. Besides providing a conceptual framework for identifiable classroom practice, findings revealed that both cohorts shared broadly similar perceptions, although the Spanish respondents showed more positive views and significantly higher support for this approach.

Giving voice to teachers through interpretative phenomenological research: a methodological consideration

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gideon Boadu
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Classroom Practices ◽  
Phenomenological Research ◽  
Methodological Consideration ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Pedagogical Reasoning ◽  
Educational Issue ◽  
Interpretative Phenomenology ◽  
Phenomenological Research Design

PurposeThis conceptual article aims to examine the application of interpretative phenomenology to research on teacher experience. It covers methodological theory and practical interpretative approaches that are pertinent for generating useful insights into an educational issue.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on an illustrative research on secondary teachers' disciplinary and pedagogical reasoning and classroom practices in Ghana, this article explores the author's musings and introspection around carrying out an interpretative phenomenological research and demonstrates how the approach helped to amplify teachers' voices.FindingsThe article demonstrates that the canons of interpretative phenomenology and qualitative research in general, while translatable to practice, need to be regarded as a series of emergent decisions and actions rather than prescriptive set of principles. The article explains that educational researchers must recognise interpretation as the lifeblood of the approach and move beyond the description of essences and explicate participants' experiences of phenomena using workable frames of interpretation.Originality/valueThe article extends the current methodological knowledge base by contributing to international discussions on qualitative research and to an understanding of the applicability of interpretative phenomenological research design to research on teacher reasoning and practice. It also serves as a useful methodological resource for novice researchers.

scholarly journals Beyond policy narratives: exploring the role of pedagogical beliefs in classroom practices of secondary school Civics and Ethical Education teachers

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alemayehu Habte ◽  
Alemayehu Bishaw ◽  
Meskerem Lechissa
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Classroom Practices ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Addis Ababa ◽  
Pedagogical Beliefs ◽  
Ethical Education ◽  
Policy Narratives

AbstractIn Ethiopia, secondary school Civics and Ethical Education has been offered to students with prime objective of producing competent and rational citizens. While policy narratives advocate constructivist pedagogy for achieving this goal of the curriculum, the reality on the ground hints that the subject is far behind achieving its stated goal. In line with this, teachers’ role in implementing the curriculum cannot be understated. Teachers are policy actors who implement the official curriculum. Their classroom practice; however, is largely dependent on their pedagogical beliefs. To this end, this study aimed at examining the role of secondary school Civics and Ethical Education teachers’ pedagogical beliefs in their perceived classroom practices vis-à-vis selected demographic variables. The study was conducted using correlational design participating 324 Civics and Ethical Education teachers from 43 government and private secondary schools in Addis Ababa city. Two-way multivariate analysis of variance and multiple regression were used to analyze the data. The regression analysis revealed that teachers' pedagogical beliefs explained 45.8% of the variance in classroom practice. Teachers were also found to have strong constructivist belief, even though they do not completely reject traditional belief per se. Their constructivist practice is; however, below the expected level, suggesting the interplay of contextual factor(s) which should be further studied. The findings implied the need to redefine continuous professional programs with emphasis on reflective teaching practice and improve climate of secondary schools.

scholarly journals Caught In-Between: The Impact of Different Forms of Mandated National Assessment for Qualifications on Teacher Decision-Making in Year 12 History in New Zealand, 1986-2005

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Gregor James Fountain
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Curriculum Reform ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Educational Achievement ◽  
Teacher Autonomy ◽  
National Assessment ◽  
History Teachers ◽  
Written Curriculum ◽  
The Impact

<p>This case study takes an historical perspective to explore the curriculum decision-making of History teachers in New Zealand. It is argued that between 1986 and 2005, Year 12 History teachers were caught in-between curriculum reform on one hand, which encouraged teacher autonomy, and on the other hand, assessment reform which reduced teacher autonomy. While teachers in this study utilised the autonomy provided by internal assessment to develop engaging class and assessment activities, they largely avoided topics in Māori, Pasifika and Women’s history which were promoted through the syllabus. Factors which contributed to teachers' decisions concerning curriculum topics included teachers' perceptions of the nature of disciplinary History, personal interest and resource availability. The primary focus on this thesis is an assessment of the impact of changes to national assessment for qualifications on Year 12 History programmes. It argues that mandated assessment for qualifications is the single-most determining factor on classroom practice. It is also argued that the assessment style which emerged for Year 12 History through the National Certificate of Educational Achievement disconnected History assessment from the intentions of its written curriculum which emphasised disciplinary History's underlying and interconnected process of gathering, analysing and presenting historical information. In some cases, the NCEA hindered rather than enhanced the development of a school-based curriculum at this level.</p>

scholarly journals Preschool Teachers’ Perception of the Application of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in Taiwan

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liwen Chen ◽  
Tung-Liang Chen ◽  
Chieh-Ju Lin ◽  
Hsu-Kuan Liu
Keyword(s):  
Communication Technology ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Preschool Teachers ◽  
Information Communication Technology ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Interpretive Phenomenology ◽  
Depth Interviews

The aim of this study is to explore preschool teachers’ perception of the application of information communication technology in Taiwan using qualitative methodology in the form of interpretive phenomenology. Snowball sampling was used to select fourteen preschool teachers from public preschools. The data was collected from fourteen preschool teachers using one-to-one, semi-structured in-depth interviews, each of which lasted for one to two hours based on the guidelines for semi-structured interviews. The interviews were taped, recorded, and transcribed for the main textual analysis, which was based on a thematic analysis. Five themes were identified: (1) a formative and explorative growth process, (2) information devices: at once plentiful and limited, (3) decisions between control and freedom, (4) parent-teacher communications, and (5) trend-driven resource integration. Suggestions and implications for the utilization of ICT in classroom practice and its implementation in the curriculum are discussed.

scholarly journals Curriculum Reform and the Teaching of History in High Schools during the Ma Ying-jeou Presidency

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-130
Author(s):  
Vladimir Stolojan
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High Schools ◽  
Curriculum Reform ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
History Curriculum ◽  
School History ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
The Subject ◽  
First Time ◽  
Taiwan Independence

The last two years of Ma Ying-jeou's (Ma Yingjiu) presidency saw the eruption of a controversy surrounding proposed revisions to the high school history curriculum. Although not the first time that the subject of history has exacerbated the tensions between holders of a China-centred view of Taiwan's history and those favouring a more Taiwan-centred approach, this crisis, which took place mainly between 2014 and 2015, was undoubtedly the fiercest witnessed by the Taiwanese society in the sphere of educational issues. By putting the 2014–2015 dispute into perspective through a review of the different attempts made by the pro-Taiwan independence Chen Shui-bian (Chen Shuibian) and the pro-unification Ma Ying-jeou governments to edit the history curriculum, this article will underline the specificities of this particular controversy. This contribution will, therefore, help to shed new light not only on the perception of Taiwan's history promoted by the Ma administration, but also the policy-making process which characterised the last years of Ma's presidency.

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