scholarly journals Teacher educators’ perceptions and challenges of using critical pedagogy: A case study of higher teacher education in Tanzania

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 112-129
Author(s):  
Patrick Kavenuke ◽  
◽  
Abdulghani Muthanna ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teaching Style ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Teaching Resources ◽  
Effective Use

This study investigates teacher educators’ perceptions of and challenges affecting the use of critical pedagogy in higher teacher education in Tanzania. The study employed a qualitative case study design and collected in-depth data through semi-structured interviews and direct classroom observations. The findings showed that critical pedagogy is a significant approach for developing students’ abilities to do critical reflection. However, critical pedagogy demands building a friendly relationship with students and encouraging dialogic interactions; all these lead to critical reflection in return, ensuring better understanding of the subject content. Most importantly, the findings report several challenges related to the presence of crowded classes, the use of lecturing teaching style and the use of English as a language of instruction, the use of unsuitable assessment format that is university guided and lack of teaching resources. These challenges impede the effective use of critical pedagogy in teaching. To overcome such challenges, policy makers and institutional leaders need to rethink of providing teaching resources and encouraging the use of critical pedagogy in teaching and learning at higher teacher education programmes. The study concludes that by practising what teacher educators perceive to be critical pedagogy, classrooms will be transformed into places of liberation. Further, while this qualitative study does not intend to make any generalisation, the findings might be of interest to international teacher educators who are interested in employing the critical pedagogy approach effectively.

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 Integrating Education for Sustainability in Preservice Teacher Education: A Case Study From a Regional Australian University

2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reece Mills ◽  
Louisa Tomas
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teacher ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Preservice Teacher Education ◽  
School Level ◽  
Education For Sustainability ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Enabling Factors ◽  
Bachelor Of Education

AbstractEducation for Sustainability (EfS) has been prioritised in the School of Education at James Cook University (JCU), Townsville, Australia. This article presents a case study that explores the ways in which teacher educators integrate EfS in their teaching in the Bachelor of Education (BEd) (Primary) at JCU, and their perceptions of enablers and constraints. Two key findings arose from the analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with four subject coordinators, and their subject outlines: (1) teacher educators at JCU integrate EfS in different ways through their choice of assessment, content and/or pedagogy; and (2) constraints operating at the school level, namely teacher educators’ perceptions and understanding of EfS, were perceived to be salient challenges to the integration of EfS in the program. Vision, leadership and funding at the university level were also identified as enabling factors that warrant further investigation. Findings contribute to existing literature regarding the integration of EfS in preservice teacher education, and serve to inform practice at JCU and universities more broadly.

scholarly journals Transforming Perspective Teachers' Beliefs about Teaching: What Teacher Educators do in a Teacher Education Institution in Pakistan?

sjesr ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 545-554
Author(s):  
Haji Karim Khan ◽  
Yasmeen Batool ◽  
Farah Deeba
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Prospective Teachers ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Teachers Beliefs ◽  
Teacher Education Institution

Taking the lenses of cultural perspectives, this study has investigated the role of teacher educators in transforming the teaching and learning beliefs of prospective teachers in a formal teacher education program in a remote mountainous region of Pakistan. We used a qualitative exploratory approach to conduct the study and collected data from eight teacher educators through semi-structured interviews, non-participatory observations of the classroom practices, as well as researchers' field, notes Findings, showed that the changing culture of teacher education in Pakistan seem to redefine and reinterpret teacher educators' roles in transforming prospective teachers' beliefs. As a result, teacher educators saw themselves as role models, counselors, mentors, storytellers, and listeners. These findings have pertinent implications for the teacher educators' roles in similar settings.

Blogging for Effective Teacher Education Course in English as a Second Language

2010 ◽  
pp. 41-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Bangou ◽  
Douglas Fleming
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Effective Teacher ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Democratic Spaces ◽  
Technological Integration

Two years ago, as teacher educators, the authors decided to integrate the use of blogs into their practice in order to contribute to the development of an understanding of the knowledge base related to the processes of teaching and learning English as a Second Language (ESL) and provide their teacher candidates with a space to critically reflect collectively and individually on course content. In this chapter, the authors use discourse analysis (Johnston, 2008) of semi-structured interviews conducted with these teacher candidates to explore how they use and perceive blogs within a course specifically focused on ESL teaching methods. This allows the authors to problematize the notion of technological integration in teaching and learning and complexify the notion of blogs as democratic spaces (Kuzu, 2007). On the basis of this analysis, the authors formulate four recommendations to guide teacher educators who are working in similar contexts.

scholarly journals Understanding Malaysian ESL pre-service teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning through metaphors

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 347-361
Author(s):  
Wan Noor Miza Wan Mohd Yunus
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Multiple Roles ◽  
Pedagogical Beliefs ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Government Schools ◽  
Teaching Practicum ◽  
Teachers Beliefs ◽  
Beliefs About Teaching

Teaching metaphors are often used in teacher education programmes for pre-service teachers to critically reflect on their teaching. Metaphors not only give insights into teachers’ beliefs and principles about teaching and learning but may also guide classroom practices. This article sought to explore three Malaysian ESL pre-service teachers’ teaching metaphors in different situations during their teaching practicum. The study also explored what the selected metaphors revealed about the pre-service teachers’ pedagogical beliefs. Data in this study was collected qualitatively by using semi-structured interviews and reflective tasks assigned after the pre-service teachers’ teaching practicum at local government schools. Findings indicated that the pre-service teachers have multiple roles, which are represented by various metaphors they formulated in different situations. It has been suggested that metaphors can be effective in eliciting beliefs as the constructed metaphors reveal much about the roles of the pre-service teachers. The major beliefs about teaching and learning generated by the research participants include meeting students’ needs, varying teaching approaches, and facilitating students. The implications of this study are for teacher educators to utilize metaphors in teacher education programmes and to acknowledge pre-service teachers’ beliefs as this may highly impact their practices and development.

scholarly journals Exploring the use of a dynamic online software programme in the teaching and learning of trigonometric graphs

Pythagoras ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayaluxmi Naidoo ◽  
Reginald Govender
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Overall Performance ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Meaningful Interaction ◽  
Online Software

Trigonometry is an important section in mathematics that links algebraic, geometric and graphical reasoning. Many secondary school learners are not familiar with these types of reasoning; thus, trigonometry presents a challenge for these learners. The traditional ‘chalk and talk’ method of teaching trigonometry is used by many teachers; however, this article is based on a case study that explores the innovative use of a dynamic online software program in the teaching and learning of Grade 10 trigonometric graphs. The participants in this study were 25 Grade 10 mathematics learners from one school in the south of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Data were collected by using two trigonometry worksheets, semi-structured interviews with selected learners and lesson observations. The worksheets were constructed based on the following focus areas: behaviour of graphs, interpretation of graphs, modelling and overall performance of the learner. In all focus areas, the participants’ scores improved significantly when working within the dynamic online environment. Further analysis revealed the following five themes: easy access, learners in control, technology is the future, motivation and meaningful interaction. These findings would be of interest to mathematics teachers, learners, curriculum developers and mathematics teacher educators.

scholarly journals Education for Social Change: The Case of Teacher Education in Wales

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8574
Author(s):  
Rebecca Weicht ◽  
Svanborg R. Jónsdóttir
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Entrepreneurial Education ◽  
Constructive Learning ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
The University ◽  
Action Competence ◽  
Shed Light

Entrepreneurial education offers valuable opportunities for teachers to foster and enhance creativity and action competence, which are also important for sustainability education. The University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) is a leader in the development of entrepreneurial education in teacher education both in Wales and internationally. The objective of this article is to shed light on how an entrepreneurial education approach can help foster social change. The aim of this study is to learn from teacher educators at UWTSD about how they support creativity, innovation, and an enterprising mindset in their learners. A case study approach is applied. By analysing documentary evidence such as module and assignment handbooks, we explore how teacher educators at UWTSD deliver entrepreneurial education for social change. Our findings indicate that UWTSD’s development of entrepreneurial education in teacher training has enabled constructive learning, cultivating creativity and action competence. We provide examples that display how the intentions of the Curriculum for Wales and entrepreneurial education approaches of the UWTSD emerge in practice. These examples show outcomes of the entrepreneurial projects that evince the enactment of social change. The findings also show that the educational policy of Wales supports entrepreneurial education throughout all levels of the educational system.

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 Implementing English-medium instruction

2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-153
Author(s):  
Kari Sahan
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
State University ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Language Preference ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
English Medium Instruction ◽  
University Department

Abstract As part of the trend toward internationalization of higher education, governments and universities have introduced policies to encourage the expansion of English-medium instruction (EMI). However, top-down policies do not necessarily translate to teaching and learning practices. This article provides a case study examining the implementation of undergraduate EMI engineering programs at a state university in Turkey to explore the gaps that exist between national- and institutional-level EMI policies and classroom-level practices. Data were collected through policy documents, classroom observations, semi-structured interviews with teachers, and focus group discussions with students. The findings suggest that the implementation of EMI varies across classrooms, even within the same university department. Despite policies that envision one-language-at-a-time instruction, the EMI lecturers in this study varied in terms of language preference and teaching practice in their EMI lectures. Implications are discussed with respect to policy planning, teacher training, and the expansion of EMI across university contexts.

scholarly journals Global South teacher educators in digital landscape: implications on professional learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-28
Author(s):  
Maria Antonietta Impedovo ◽  
Sufiana Khatoon Malik ◽  
Kinley Kinley
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Digital Resources ◽  
Use Of The Internet ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Digital Landscape

Abstract This article explores Pakistani and Bhutanese teacher educators’ digital competences about the use of social media, digital resources and professional online communities and implications of this on professional learning. The two countries, less discussed in international educational literature, are facing a growing use of the Internet in teaching and learning. Data include a survey completed by 67 teacher educators from Pakistan and 37 teachers from Bhutan, as well as semi-structured interviews from both countries. This study provides evidence of how teachers’ interaction on social networks and the use of digital resources play a central role in the introduction of innovative pedagogical practices of teacher educators, and teacher educators remain interested in knowledge sharing through social media for their professional learning.

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