Reflection in alignment to professional standards: What did the student teachers highlight?

This study investigates the professional development of elementary student teachers in a teacher education program. Student teaching is a process for pre-service teachers to apply learning in an authentic school context, and one critical aspect of professional development is through reflection. The participants were primarily examined through their weekly reflections on teaching and learning experiences over an eight-week period. Using the state Standards for the Teaching Profession as a framework, the student teachers chose to reflect on topics they were most interested in exploring. Results indicated that the participants gave predominant attention to classroom management; the standards that received the least reflection were organizing curriculum and planning instruction. Analysis of the reflection journals also revealed how the student teachers grew as individuals and in interaction with others in a learning community. Based on the results, implications for teacher education are proposed. Limitations are also discussed.

Valuing the local within the global: A discourse analysis of professional development in a U.S.-Kurdish transnational university partnership

In an effort to support higher education in developing countries, partnerships between U.S. and international universities have surged, raising questions concerning the social equity of such linkages. Using a New Literacy Studies approach to discourse analysis, online transcripts from one such university partnership were analyzed to determine how language was used to negotiate a more equitable partnership through the adaptation of the social context of professional development activities. Discourse analysis of three relevant linguistic markers in the data suggests that cultural perspectives on professional development influenced the language choices made by university partners, reshaping the power structure toward greater social equity, and aiding in the completion of joint professional development goals. Findings underscore the importance of drawing on local knowledges in planning for and conducting transnational university partnerships.

Innovations in mentoring as part of the strategy to improve the quality of talent pool for the Russian mineral and raw material sector

In contemporary Russian practices, mentoring is a multifaceted innovative 'human resource technology' aimed at developing professional skills and corporate competencies, as well as systematic and targeted participation in professional development of employees who have insufficient work experience or have difficulties in mastering new technologies and work techniques. Today, the institution of mentoring is an open industrial, educational and social space where the mentor transfers not only readymade ways to solve production problems, but also teaches how to use available intellectual and material resources. Although the mentoring process in its traditional sense does not require large financial investments, most business entities, industrial enterprises and companies are more actively using training, coaching techniques and various forms of internships, which are valuable forms of professional development of employees, but, as our research has shown, they do not have the potential that the targeted on-the-job mentoring possesses. With all the variety of forms and programmes of mentoring activities, there is a clear lack of innovative ideas aimed at improving its efficiency, which fully applies to the mentoring of students who take their work placements during vocational education, which is the subject of the research presented in this article. The literature and research studies do not fully analyse the potential of the third mission of universities regarding the issue of targeted mentoring aimed at more proactive and advanced applied training of graduates, capable of responding to "the great challenges". The article highlights the mentoring models used in foreign companies, which are similar to the types of mentoring technologies successfully implemented by Russian enterprises.