scholarly journals “Confronting the Dragons at the Door”: A Call for Transformative Learning in Teacher Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 54-69
Author(s):  
Rebat Kumar Dhakal
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Transformative Education ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Mind Set ◽  
Training Programmes ◽  
Narrative Interviewing ◽  
Key Participants

This paper examines the beliefs of Nepali teacher educators about the potential of transformative learning (TL) experiences in teacher education. It further explores the ways in which they are promoting TL among the graduate students aspiring to become teacher educators and among the in-service teachers in Nepal. Data collection consisted of qualitative methods, particularly narrative interviewing and observation. Key participants included three emerging transformative education practitioners (teacher educators) and a transformative education pedagogue from Kathmandu University. The narratives of the participants showed that they were stepping up to promote TL in teacher education programmes in Nepal. Their stories revealed that changing the frame of reference of the conventional teachers and thereby instilling in their mind-set the simple thought of TL was like confronting the dragons. Nonetheless, their engagement in teacher education programmes have exposed how students and educators can co-create TL experiences. Their experiences and also my observation of their training programmes showed that Nepali teachers are in want of TL opportunities. The findings suggest that teacher education should foster Critical Consciousness in teachers so that they can develop the ability in their students to analyse, pose questions, and take action on the diverse social, political, cultural, and economic contexts that influence and shape their lives. Moreover, the community of practice among the emerging transformative education practitioners should grow in focus from critical self-reflection to include an emphasis on promoting a contemplative mode of teaching and learning, which will offer an effective pedagogic model to nurture transformative learning in teacher education.

Educating Perfinkers: How Cognitive Tools Support Affective Engagement in Teacher Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gillian Judson ◽  
Ross Powell ◽  
Kelly Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Cognitive Tools ◽  
Affective Engagement ◽  
Research Praxis ◽  
Imaginative Education ◽  
Relational Process

Our intention is to share our lived experiences as educators of educators employing Imaginative Education (IE) pedagogy. We aim to illuminate IE’s influence on our students’, and our own, affective alertness, and to leave readers feeling the possibility of this pedagogy for teaching and learning. Inspired by the literary and research praxis of métissage (Chambers et al., 2012; Hasebe-Ludt et al., 2009; Hasebe-Ludt et al., 2010), we offer this polyphonic text as a weaving together of our discrete and collective voices as imaginative teacher educators. Our writing reflects a relational process, one that invites us as writers and colleagues to better understand each other and our practices as IE educators (Hasebe-Ludt et al., 2009). It also allows us to share with other practitioners our struggles, questions, and triumphs as we make sense of our individual and collective praxis: how IE’s theory informs our practice, and how our practice informs our understanding of IE’s theory. This text, like IE’s philosophy, invites heterogeneous possibilities.

scholarly journals Critical Self-Reflection as Disruption: A Black Feminist Self-Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-38
Author(s):  
Benikia Kressler
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Junior Faculty ◽  
Junior Faculty Member ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
White Middle Class ◽  
Self Study ◽  
Educators Of Color

As the PK-12 student population grows more diverse, the teaching population steadfastly continues to be white middle-class women (NCES, 2016). Critical teacher educators understand the importance of preparing pre-service teachers to become culturally responsive and sustaining (CR/S) practitioners by engaging in culturally relevant education (CRE). Critical teacher educators, particularly those of color from historically marginalized groups, can be important advocates in the struggle to strengthen the teaching candidate pool of CR/S practitioners. Building a cadre of teachers, who are poised to decolonize minds and spaces, sustains the work of many teacher educators of color. However, the acts of teaching and learning in most institutions of education are inundated with oppressive norms such as white privilege, xenophobia and anti-blackness. It is this reality in which I, a Black female junior teacher educator, attempt to disrupt normative teaching practices within a special education course. This self-study examined insight derived from a focus group as well as from my self-reflections conducted over the course of two semesters (Spring 2018 to Fall 2018). Using a qualitative methodological approach, the findings indicated tensions between my vulnerable position of being a junior faculty member and my desire to dismantle normative deficit practices through critical self-reflection.    

Developing Critical Dispositions in Teacher Education Programs

2019 ◽  
pp. 106-124
Author(s):  
Jarrett D. Moore
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
American Education ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Purpose Of Education

This chapter advocates for the (re)framing of critical thinking from a skill to a disposition and proposes a framework whereby teacher education programs can create space for pre-service teachers to develop a critical disposition. By studying the context of American education and schooling and their corporate interest, pre-service teachers along with teacher educators can start to unravel the discourse and power inherent in American education. Understanding how these concepts lead to hegemony can begin the process of creating a counterhegemonic movement among American educators that includes the reclaiming of the purpose of education, raising pertinent epistemological question, and practicing critical self-reflection. The final part of the new framework for developing critical dispositions is a reintroduction of broader theoretical concerns into teacher preparation programs.

The Critical Language Reflection Tool

2022 ◽  
pp. 203-220
Author(s):  
Jennifer Miyake-Trapp ◽  
Kevin M. Wong
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Teaching Standards ◽  
International Teaching ◽  
Contextual Awareness

Critical reflection is an integral part of the teaching and learning process that requires educators to reflect on their assumptions and practices to promote equity in their classrooms. While critical reflection practices and frameworks have been proposed in teacher education, a TESOL-specific tool that engages with the unique complexities of world Englishes has not been developed. The current chapter, thus, engages in critical praxis by providing an evidence-based, step-by-step reflection tool for TESOL educators to enact inquiry. The reflection tool is called the critical language reflection tool, which offers open-ended questions surrounding assumption analysis, contextual awareness, and reflection-based action. Moreover, it applies a critical lens to the TESOL international teaching standards to help TESOL educators and teacher educators foster critical consciousness in TESOL classroom contexts.

scholarly journals Reflective self-study for an integrated learning approach to early childhood mathematics teacher education

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Makie Kortjass
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Mathematics Teacher Education ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
Early Childhood Mathematics ◽  
Study Research ◽  
Self Study

Background: This article gives an account of what I learned through the process of a self-study research project. Self-study teacher research allows teacher educators and teachers to improve their learning, plan new pedagogies and impact students’ learning.Aim: The aim of this self-study research was to improve my own practice in early childhood mathematics teacher education through interaction and collaboration with others, such as colleagues and students.Setting: As a South African university-based teacher educator, I piloted an integrated learning approach (ILA) in the teaching and learning of early childhood mathematics in a selected undergraduate programme.Methods: I began by tracking my personal development in mathematics education and in so doing was able to recognise my personal learning of mathematics as a child growing up in an African township context. I then worked with a class of 38 student teachers to create collages and concept maps to explore their understandings and experiences of ILA.Results: Through this project, I discovered that colleagues in the role of critical friends provided essential feedback on my work in progress. I also learned that student teachers need to be equipped with knowledge and hands-on experience of how integration can take place in teaching and learning early childhood mathematics. I realised that it was essential to constantly reflect on my own personal history and my professional practice to explore new ways of teaching mathematics.Conclusion: Teacher educators may consider engaging in self-study research that includes art-based self-study methods to reflect on their practices and see how they change for the benefit of their students and ultimately for the benefit of the learners.

scholarly journals Educating the Educators: Technology-Enhanced Mathematics Teaching and Learning

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-72
Author(s):  
Leong Chee Kin
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Educational Innovation ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Teaching Quality ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Southeast Asians ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Training Programmes

Educational research has shown that teaching quality is one of the most important factors in raising student achievement. There is a compelling need for educators to keep abreast of the important developments that are taking place in educational arena. One of the educational areas that has massive development is the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning especially in mathematics. This development needs professional developmentamong educators. Being a regional science and mathematics education centre, the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation Regional Centre for Education in Science and Mathematics (SEAMEO RECSAM) has always been cognizant of the importance of these developments. Its training programmes are planned to incorporate these developments for in-service teachers, teacher educators and ministry of education mathematics officers. As the Centre's mandate aims to ensure that these participants from Southeast Asians countriesas well as those from outside the region are equipped with emerging educationaltechnology tools which can enhance teaching and learning of mathematics. This paper will share the Centre’s experiences in continuing professional development among mathematics teacher, teacher educators and officers from the ministry of education on educational innovation and technology.

scholarly journals Discoveries through Challenges: Collective Autoethnographic Study of Teacher Educators in the COVID‘19 Situation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eglė Pranckūnienė ◽  
◽  
Rūta Girdzijauskienė ◽  
Remigijus Bubnys ◽  
Liudmila Rupšienė
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Prospective Teachers ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Interpersonal Relations ◽  
World Health ◽  
First Person

After the World Health Organization announced the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, education systems were forced to move instruction to the virtual world. It drastically changed the interplay between teachers and learners, educational content, and the learning environment. When scrutinising the experience of teacher educators, we realised that it was important to focus on their discoveries. Collective reflection and collaborative autoethnography of four teacher educators developed into a reflective process of creating collective knowledge about their lived experience of coping with the new reality of teaching. The research was carried out in four steps: collective reflection on the context of education and individual lived experiences, collective analyses of transcribed first-person narratives, collective interpretation of the first-person narratives, co-creation of insights, and implications for the future of teacher training. The paper discusses the discoveries of four teacher educators made during the pandemic period: the benefits of communication technology, new interpersonal relations, the dynamics of self-learning, and a new concept of multiple educational spaces. The research results showed that the online teaching and technological breakthrough encouraged teacher educators to use various online platforms and technological tools, to develop new teaching strategies, to find effective ways of communication, to focus more on the organisation of teaching and learning, the usage of multiple learning spaces, and teaching multimodality. At the end of this paper, we provide some insights for teacher education: teacher education programmes should create conditions for student transformative learning preparing prospective teachers to live and work in a rapidly changing and challenging world, to create space and time to develop important qualities of student teachers such as flexibility, the ability to adapt to changing circumstances and resistance to physical and emotional disturbances.

scholarly journals Cases in TESOL Teacher Education: Creating a Forum for Reflection

1997 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 01 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Professional Practice ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Professional Preparation ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Case Method ◽  
Case Based Learning ◽  
Teaching Cases ◽  
Case Based

This article reviews the case method from an historical perspective and explores why and how "decision" cases might be used by teacher educators in the professional preparation of teachers as reflective ESOL specialists. It is argued that the case method can sharpen the critical thinking, analytical, and communication skills of both novice and experienced teachers and help ready them for the complex challenges they could face in the world of professional practice. Enthusiasm for this methodology, however, is tempered with words of caution about the difficulties involved in implementing case-based learning in teacher education programs. Guidelines for selecting and using"decision" cases are provided and recommendations are made for future developments in case-based teaching and learning in TESOL. Three appendixes include sources for teaching cases and details about a working conference for case facilitators and writers.

Considering Gender Complexity in Music Teacher Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 72-84
Author(s):  
Joshua Palkki ◽  
William Sauerland
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Music Teacher Education ◽  
Social Constructs ◽  
Gender Nonconforming ◽  
Complex Approach ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Many

Gender is one of the many social constructs that can influence teaching and learning. As trans(gender) people “come out” at earlier ages, an increasing number of teachers will have openly identifying trans and gender nonconforming students in their classes. Music educators and music teacher educators are often supporters of LGBTQA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, asexual/agender/ally) students; thus, these constituencies should expand their notions of gender away from a simplistic binary category toward a gender-complex approach in which all students—cisgender, trans, genderqueer, and questioning—can thrive. To that end, we provide an overview of vocabulary and teaching pedagogies pertinent to gender issues in music teacher education. In addition, we offer sample lessons and projects that could be incorporated into preservice music teacher preparation.

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