scholarly journals Quality indicators, a new method for evaluation of teaching practice in teacher education programmes in Slovenia: Example of quality indicators for school mentors – external mentors

Author(s):  
Danijela Trskan
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-56
Author(s):  
Fouzia Younas

This study was aimed to investigate evaluation methods of teaching practice of distance teacher education institutions in Pakistan. Major objectives of the study were: to examine the evaluation methods of teaching practice used in distance teacher education institutions; to analyze the effectiveness of teaching practice at distance teacher education institutions; and to find out the problems/weaknesses in evaluation of teaching practice in these institutions. The population was consisted of all the supervisors of distance teacher education institution offering teacher education programmes. Allama Iqbal Open University Islamabad in Pakistan is example of distance education. Two questionnaires were developed on the basis of related literature for prospective teachers and supervisors to get the responses. The data were collected by administering the validated questionnaires. Randomly 200 respondents were selected. The data were analyzed and interpreted by using percentages and two-way chi-square square techniques. Inferred results were discussed and reported. The major conclusions of the study were that the prospective teachers of distance teacher education institutions are not very satisfied with the duration of teaching practice. Some of the recommendations are that there is a need to put in place a continuous system of monitoring and evaluation of teaching practice including observations of prospective teachers for distance teacher education institutions. The time period of teaching practice may be increased. Self-evaluation of prospective teachers may be included in the evaluation of teaching practice.


Author(s):  
Darshana Sharma

Teaching Practice is widely recognised as the sine-qua-non of any teacher education programme. It is a component in the teacher preparation programme where prospective teachers are provided with an opportunity to put their theoretical studies into practice, get feedback, reflect on practice and consequently further improve their teaching skills. As teaching practice is an important component of a teacher education programme, considerable attention must be given to make it more effective and fruitful. This paper is based on a research study conducted to know pre-service teachers' experiences of the quality of teaching practice and the common concerns they have during teaching practice. On the basis of focussed group discussion a total of five themes were identified, these are (1) usefulness of teaching practice (2) experiences/concerns with pupils' behaviour (3) experiences/concerns with own behaviour (4) experiences/concerns with supervisors' behaviour (5) experiences/concerns with institutional and personal adjustments. The outcome of the focussed group discussion was used to prepare a structured questionnaire. Among other things, the study recommended rigorous practical training in lesson planning, demonstration lessons by teacher educators, simulated teaching before the commencement of practice teaching, school orientation programmes, a separate internship of two weeks and writing a journal by student teachers during teaching practice.


2020 ◽  
Vol 122 (11) ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Britnie Delinger Kane

Background/Context The Core Practice movement continues to gain momentum in teacher education research. Yet critics highlight that equitable teaching cannot be reduced to a set of “core” practices, arguing that such a reduction risks representing teaching as technical work that will be neither culturally responsive nor sustaining. Instead, they argue that preservice teachers need opportunities to develop professional reasoning that takes the specific strengths and needs of students, communities, and subject matter into account. Purpose This analysis takes up the question of how and whether pedagogies of investigation and enactment can support preservice teachers’ development of the professional reasoning that equitable teaching requires. It conceptualizes two types of professional reasoning: interpretive, in which reasoners decide how to frame instructional problems and make subsequent efforts to solve them, and prescriptive, in which reasoners solve an instructional problem as given. Research Design This work is a qualitative, multiple case study, based on design research in which preservice teachers participated in three different cycles of investigation and enactment, which were designed around a teaching practice central to equitable teaching: making student thinking visible. Preservice teachers attended to students’ thinking in the context of the collaborative analysis of students’ writing and also through designed simulations of student-teacher writing conferences. Findings/Results Preservice teachers’ collaborative analysis of students’ writing supported prescriptive professional reasoning about disciplinary ideas in ELA and writing instruction (i.e., How do seventh graders use hyperbole? How is hyperbole related to the Six Traits of Writing?), while the simulation of a writing conference supported preservice teachers to reason interpretively about how to balance the need to support students’ affective commitment to writing with their desire to teach academic concepts about writing. Conclusions/Recommendations This analysis highlights an important heuristic for the design of pedagogies in teacher education: Teacher educators need to attend to preservice teachers’ opportunities for both interpretive and prescriptive reasoning. Both are essential for teachers, but only interpretive reasoning will support teachers to teach in ways that are both intellectually rigorous and equitable. The article further describes how and why a tempting assumption—that opportunities to role-play student-teacher interactions will support preservice teachers to reason interpretively, while non-interactive work will not—is incomplete and avoidable.


Author(s):  
Sue Garton

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.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Lena Østern ◽  
Renata Svedlin ◽  
Gunnar Engvik

Syftet med denna artikel är att undersöka hur strävanden att professionalisera handledning i lärarutbildning i Norge och Finland genomförts och har resulterat i två olika partnerskapsmodeller. Fokus är i denna artikel på handledning av undervisnings-praktik. Artikeln handlar dels om den historiska framväxten av undervisningspraktik och -handledning av lärarstuderande inom lärarutbildning, dels om två exempel på pågående utvecklingsarbete inom området handledning i lärarstuderandes under-visningspraktik. I en jämförande uppställning lyfter författarna fram avgörande brytningspunkter i utvecklingen av praktik med åtföljande handledning inom lärar-utbildningen i Norge, respektive Finland. Med stöd av ett empiriskt material som synliggör hur idag verksamma handledare resonerar om kännetecken för professionell handledning, för författarna en diskussion om rådande utvecklingslinjer i Norge, med en kontrasterande jämförelse med utvecklingen i Finland. Analyserna är genomförda, dels som historisk analys (baserad på litteratur om ämnet), dels som tematisk narrativ analys av ett empiriskt material om handledning producerat som uppgift under en fortbildning i Norge respektive inom ramen för en samling med övningsskollärare i Finland.Övningsskolan i Finland har genomgått transformation, från att tidvis ha varit hårt kritiserad som konservativ och obenägen till förnyelse, samt för ojämförligt goda resurser, till att i dagsläget ha en styrkt plats som centrum för pedagogisk innovation, forskning och handledning. Den norska universitetsskolan är ung, men har likheter med dagens finska övningsskola rörande pedagogisk innovation, forskning och handledning. I dagens läge kan vi notera att professionaliseringssträvande knutna till handledning av lärarstuderande är dels uppifrån styrda, dels utvecklade inifrån professionen. Nyckelord: professionalisering, handledning, övningsskola, universitetsskola, lärarutbildning Partnership within teacher education in Norway and Finland: historical prerequisites for and practice teachers’ understanding of professional supervision AbstractThe aim of this article is to explore how attempts to professionalise supervision in teacher education in Norway and Finland have been carried out and have resulted in two different partnership models. The focus of this article is on the supervision of future teachers’ teaching practice. The article partly comprises the historical emergence of teaching practice and its supervision. It contains two examples of ongoing developmental work within the field of supervision of future teachers’ teaching practice. In juxtaposition, the authors highlight decisive turning points in the development of practice and supervision in teacher education in Norway and Finland, respectively. Based on empirical material which makes visible how supervisors currently reason around the characteristics of professional supervision, the authors discuss the predominant developmental lines in Norway, with a contrasting comparison with those in Finland. The analyses are carried out partly as historical analyses (based on literature about the subject), and partly as thematic narrative analyses of empirical material about supervision which was produced as a task during a continuous education course in Norway, and respectively in Finland within the frames of a seminar for teachers at a teacher education practice school.The practice school in Finland has undergone a transformation, from a time of being strongly criticised as conservative and not willing to renew itself, as well as of having incomparably rich resources, to the current situation, where it now has a strengthened position as a centre for pedagogical innovation, research and supervision. The Norwegian university school is young but has similarities with the Finnish practice school of today concerning pedagogical innovation, research and supervision. For the time being, we may note that the attempts to professionalise supervision are partly decided from outside, and partly developed from inside the profession. Keywords: professionalisation, supervision, practice school, university school, teacher education


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-121
Author(s):  
Beatrice Sinyama Sichombe

Namibia’s classroom compositions are diverse. Its policies on diversity reflect international practices of achieving Education for All. It advocates for teacher education that is responsive to the country’s needs.  What is unknown is what a socio-cultural curriculum means in Namibian teacher education. This article focuses on the nature of the UNAM’s B.Ed. curriculum and how students learn its contents.  I argue that teacher education for diversity should go beyond traditional teacher education programmes. Its curricula should adopt a socio-cultural view. Coursework and teaching practice should reflect the needs of learners and society.  Data collection consisted of documents, and interviews.  Content analysis was used. Findings revealed that teaching practice lacked dedication in regard to diversity teaching. Consequently, the B.Ed. Programme partially equipped students with competencies to teach diverse learners because coursework alone cannot suffice. The study contributes to knowledge of what a socio-cultural curriculum means in Namibian teacher education.    


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 11887
Author(s):  
Eveliina Asikainen ◽  
Annukka Tapani

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Entrepreneurial Education (EE) are quite abstract and demanding concepts for teacher students. Yet, Key Sustainability Competences and Entrepreneurial Competences entail important qualities of future citizens and workers, and teacher students should become prepared to accommodate education for these competencies in their teaching practice. This paper explores teacher students’ process of sense-making of sustainable development and how becoming a teacher who practices ESD connects with entrepreneurship. EE serves as a good mirroring surface to ESD as they both have their roots in Transformative Learning (TL) but pursue transformation towards different goals. The case study follows the vocational teacher education (VTE) students’ sensemaking of Sustainable Development as a part of teacher’s work during one semester which included integrated Thematic Studies of Sustainable Development. The qualitative content analysis of students’ texts focused on signs of transformative learning and was guided by the dimensions of sustainable development and learning goals set for teacher’s sustainability competences in the VTE curriculum. The results indicate that transformative learning is possible. Furthermore, they address the importance of certain entrepreneurial capabilities in the actualization of change agency.


Author(s):  
Beatriz Jarauta Borrasca ◽  
María José Pérez Cabrera

Resumen:¿Cómo se aprende a ser docente? ¿Cómo influye la formación inicial en la construcción de la profesionalidad e identidad como maestro? Ante estas preguntas, la investigación “Desarrollo del conocimiento profesional a través del plan de estudios del grado de maestro en educación primaria. Perspectivas del alumnado y profesorado” (EDU2012-39866-C02-02), pretende comprender los procesos que los estudiantes del Grado de Magisterio en Educación Primaria, de la Universidad de Barcelona, llevan a cabo para la construcción de su identidad profesional. Para ello, desde una metodología de carácter cualitativo basado en el estudio de casos, se aplicaron diversos instrumentos de recogida de información (tales como relatos, grupos de discusión y entrevistas) que permitieron un acercamiento desde la visión del estudiantado, del profesorado de universidad y del profesorado de centro escolar. A la luz de los resultados obtenidos, puede determinarse la influencia de sus experiencias previas, atravesadas por una elevada motivación que, a medida que avanzan en la formación, va adquiriendo tintes de realidad al asumir cada vez más una mirada desde el punto de vista de futuro maestro, y no tan anclada en la perspectiva del alumno. El hito de mayor relevancia en la construcción de su identidad se produce durante el practicum, pues es el escenario en el que se ponen en cuestión sus ideas, expectativas, preconcepciones… Acompañar la transición entre la idealización inicial de escuela y maestro hacia la recomposición de la profesionalidad y la construcción de su propia identidad, son funciones clave de la formación inicial. Abstract:How does one become a teacher? What makes a teacher? How does initial teacher training influence the development of professionalism and identity as a teacher? Faced with these questions, the aim of the research paper titled "The development of professional knowledge through the Primary Teacher Education Degree programme. Students’ and teachers’ perspectives" (EDU2012-39866-C02-02) is to understand the processes students undergo in the construction of their professional identity while pursuing a Primary Teacher Education Degree at the University of Barcelona. Following a qualitative type methodology based on case study, we used various data collection tools (such as stories, discussion groups and interviews) that allowed us to gain greater insight into the viewpoint of students, university teaching staff and cooperating teachers. In light of the results obtained, it is possible to determine the influence of previous experiences embedded in the high motivational levels of these students. Then, as they advance through their training, they begin to acquire hints of the reality of teaching and gradually assume a teacher’s frame of mind, less anchored in the student's perspective. The most important milestone in the construction of a teacher identity occurs during teaching practice; the setting in which a teacher’s ideas, expectations, preconceptions, etc. are put to the test. Accompanying the transition from the initial idealisation of the school and the teacher towards greater professionalism and the construction a teacher’s own identity are key functions of the initial teacher training.


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