COMUNIDADE DE PRÁTICA E O DESENVOLVIMENTO PROFISSIONAL DOCENTE DE PROFESSORES DE EDUCAÇÃO FÍSICA EM UMA ESCOLA BRASILEIRA

Esta pesquisa teve o objetivo de explorar o desenvolvimento profissional de professores de Educação Física (EF) em uma escola municipal brasileira. Este estudo se constituiu como uma pesquisa-ação da qual participaram seis professores de EF, uma facilitadora e uma critical friend. Reuniões com os professores e entre as pesquisadoras; entrevistas; caderno de campo foram as fontes de dados. Os resultados apontam que a comunidade de prática (CP) pôde dar suporte aos professores durante seu desenvolvimento. As necessidades essenciais dos professores foram atendidas; a CP teve decisões autônomas; e a sua voz ouvida. O suporte oferecido aos professores pela CP foi originado pelo processo de construção da própria prática dos professores, sob o apoio de seus próprios pares e da facilitadora enquanto eles se uniam em uma comunidade recém-desenvolvida.

Opening Doors. Guiding teachers to intentionally facilitate science for young children.

<p><b>Research has acknowledged the limited range of scientific opportunities for young children in New Zealand early childhood education (ECE) services. The identified reasons include a lack of confidence by ECE teachers, their narrow understanding of science, and their pedagogical approaches to teaching. A complex and non-prescriptive curriculum and dominance of developmental theories in ECE has resulted in science learning via osmosis through a process of a hands-off play-based philosophy of practice. Many have argued for pedagogical approaches that can accommodate scientific learning within a play-based sociocultural-historical setting (e.g., Broström, 2015; Fleer & Pramling, 2015; Kumar & Whyte, 2018). This study investigated the things that influence the occurrence of scientific experiences in ECE. It explored how participating in collaborative action research (CAR) and the involvement of a critical friend influences scientific experiences in centres.</b></p> <p>This study involved two phases: a national survey and CAR with teaching teams in six centres. The researcher took on the role of a critical friend through the CAR process, guiding teachers to critically examine their practice and their centre programme. Action plans were achieved collaboratively within each teaching team. Data was collected over 12 weeks in each centre through focus groups, reflective journals, observations, field notes, and through two research hui with participating teachers from all centres.</p> <p>The findings highlighted the importance of the teachers recognising and fostering children’s scientific experiences. It found that science was enabled in a variety of ECE settings by a shift in teachers’ pedagogical practices, adjustments to centre environments, and recognising and responding to children’s interests. Teachers enabled rich, authentic, and meaningful scientific interactions with children by their active participation in supporting and extending children’s science interests with intentional teaching practices and provocations.</p> <p>This thesis argues for the value of CAR and the role of a critical friend to facilitate teachers’ motivation, engagement, learning and reflection on practice. Seeking a change in practice through professional learning and CAR, brought about ownership of their goals and action plans, and the eventual shifts in teachers’ pedagogy of practice.</p> <p>The shift towards intentional teaching practices, provocations, and opening doors to knowledge, validated and forefronted the importance of the teachers’ role and emphasised their value in noticing, recognising, and responding to children’s scientific interests in authentic and meaningful ways.</p>

Opening Doors. Guiding teachers to intentionally facilitate science for young children.

<p><b>Research has acknowledged the limited range of scientific opportunities for young children in New Zealand early childhood education (ECE) services. The identified reasons include a lack of confidence by ECE teachers, their narrow understanding of science, and their pedagogical approaches to teaching. A complex and non-prescriptive curriculum and dominance of developmental theories in ECE has resulted in science learning via osmosis through a process of a hands-off play-based philosophy of practice. Many have argued for pedagogical approaches that can accommodate scientific learning within a play-based sociocultural-historical setting (e.g., Broström, 2015; Fleer & Pramling, 2015; Kumar & Whyte, 2018). This study investigated the things that influence the occurrence of scientific experiences in ECE. It explored how participating in collaborative action research (CAR) and the involvement of a critical friend influences scientific experiences in centres.</b></p> <p>This study involved two phases: a national survey and CAR with teaching teams in six centres. The researcher took on the role of a critical friend through the CAR process, guiding teachers to critically examine their practice and their centre programme. Action plans were achieved collaboratively within each teaching team. Data was collected over 12 weeks in each centre through focus groups, reflective journals, observations, field notes, and through two research hui with participating teachers from all centres.</p> <p>The findings highlighted the importance of the teachers recognising and fostering children’s scientific experiences. It found that science was enabled in a variety of ECE settings by a shift in teachers’ pedagogical practices, adjustments to centre environments, and recognising and responding to children’s interests. Teachers enabled rich, authentic, and meaningful scientific interactions with children by their active participation in supporting and extending children’s science interests with intentional teaching practices and provocations.</p> <p>This thesis argues for the value of CAR and the role of a critical friend to facilitate teachers’ motivation, engagement, learning and reflection on practice. Seeking a change in practice through professional learning and CAR, brought about ownership of their goals and action plans, and the eventual shifts in teachers’ pedagogy of practice.</p> <p>The shift towards intentional teaching practices, provocations, and opening doors to knowledge, validated and forefronted the importance of the teachers’ role and emphasised their value in noticing, recognising, and responding to children’s scientific interests in authentic and meaningful ways.</p>

The (im)possibilities of praxis in online health and physical education teacher education

Over the past three decades, a body of research has highlighted the benefits and challenges of what might collectively be referred to as critical pedagogical approaches to Health and Physical Education Teacher Education (HPETE). This research shows that praxis facilitated through critical pedagogies can challenge dominant accountability regimes in HPETE, by animating the discourse of democracy and interrogating and denaturalizing the conditions of oppression. The aim of this study was to explore the (im)possibilities of praxis when the lead author attempted to transition to online teaching. Theoretically, we are guided by the work of bell hooks, and specifically her ‘engaged pedagogy’. Participatory action research framed this study. Participants included the lead author (a teacher educator), a critical friend, and two additional teacher educators. Data collected included: (a) lead researcher observations; (b) collaborative group meetings between the lead author and the two other teacher educators; (c) meetings between the lead author and the critical friend; (d) teacher educator focus group; and (e) artefacts. Findings are discussed under two themes. First, building relationships as a foundation to cultivating a learning community; this theme relates to the challenges and facilitators to getting to know our ‘faceless students’ and building an interactive relationship with them in an online environment. The second theme constructed from the data was commitment to a process of self-actualization that promotes teachers’ and students’ wellbeing; under this theme we describe and interrogate how mutual participation, vulnerability and risk taking were cultivated in challenging university and pedagogical contexts.

Finding Our Way Through a Pandemic: Teaching in Alternate Modes of Delivery

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a dramatic pivot to online learning and has forced teachers to critically re-evaluate teaching strategies. Thus, the questions, framing this self-study were: 1) How will I be able to do the learning activities I normally do in the classroom online including individual work, group activities, debates, and whole class discussions? and 2) How will I be able to pivot my signature lessons to the alternate delivery model? This self-study of teaching and teacher education practices (S-STTEP) builds on previous research to transform traditional face-to-face lessons into effective online lessons using alternate modes of delivery. In this paper, Ted shares some of his signature lessons including ice-breakers, critical response questions, discussions, group activities, and jigsaws, utilizing Moodle, Big Blue Button, Padlet, Google Docs, and other online tools. With Georgann’s help as a critical friend, Ted critically analyzed his teaching of Master of Education graduate students through S-STTEP. In addition, he explored comparative ethnographic narrative (CEN) as another way of knowing within the S-STTEP space. Data included detailed weekly reflections. In addition, students provided written feedback at the end of each class, and at the end of term through a survey and course evaluation. Ted shared weekly electronic journal reflections and student feedback with Georgann, via email and teleconferences. Then, together Ted and Georgann made meaning from these field texts. The research text evolved from teacher-to-teacher conversations. Promising pedagogies for synchronous and face to face learning were identified with several signature lessons the focus. Georgann, as Ted’s critical friend helped confirm and verify the most significant results amongst the many interesting reflections made.

Surfing a Steep Learning Curve: Academics’ experience of changing teaching and assessment due to COVID-19

Í lok febrúar 2020 lýsti ríkislögreglustjóri, í samráði við sóttvarnalækni og landlækni, yfir óvissustigi almannavarna vegna COVID-19. Rektor Háskóla Íslands hvatti starfsfólk og nemendur til að fylgjast með upplýsingum frá Landlæknisembættinu og hlýða ráðum og fyrirmælum sem þaðan komu. Í kjölfarið var neyðarstig almannavarna virkjað á Íslandi og samkomur takmarkaðar til að vernda íbúa landsins. Um miðjan mars var háskólum lokað og fengu kennarar Háskóla Íslands það verkefni að færa alla kennslu á örskömmum tíma úr hefðbundnu staðnámi í kennslustofum yfir í fjarnám. Háskólakennarar bjuggu á þessum tímapunkti yfir mismikilli reynslu af rafrænum kennsluháttum og margir þeirra hófu hraða vegferð upp bratta lærdómskúrfu. Á meðan rannsóknir hafa beinst að upplifun og reynslu nemenda, líðan þeirra og atvinnuhorfum á tímum heimsfaraldurs, hafa fáar rannsóknir varpað ljósi á leiðir kennara á háskólastigi til að endurskoða og aðlaga eigin kennslu og samskipti við nemendur að breyttri tilveru. Þessari rannsókn er ætlað að veita innsýn í reynslu háskólakennara af skyndilegum breytingum á kennsluháttum á tímum COVID-19.Markmið þessarar greinar er að varpa ljósi á úrræði þriggja háskólakennara sem höfðu þá sérstöðu að vera samtímis í hlutverki kennara og nemenda á þessum fordæmalausu tímum. Sem kennarar báru þeir ábyrgð á að mæta farsællega þeim áskorunum sem óhjákvæmilega fylgdu heimsfaraldrinum fyrir nemendur, og vörðuðu námsmat, endurgjöf og prófafyrirkomulag. Sem nemendur stunduðu kennararnir nám í háskólakennslufræði og upplifðu því á eigin skinni hvernig námsfyrirkomulag færðist milli stað- og fjarnáms með litlum fyrirvara. Í greininni er lögð áhersla á þá þætti sem snúa að rafrænum kennsluháttum, námsmati, samskiptum kennara og nemenda og lærdómi kennara af ofangreindum þáttum.Rannsóknargögn samanstanda af ígrundun kennarana á eigin úrræðum í kennslu sem unnin var í námskeiðinu Námsmat og endurgjöf á vormisseri 2020, reynslu þeirra af að fylgjast með kennslu hver hjá öðrum, kennslumati námskeiða, samskiptum við nemendur sem og tilkynningum og fyrirmælum háskólarektors til starfsfólks og nemenda á tímum COVID-19. Aðferðir þriggja kennara í þessari rannsókn fólust ekki síst í að vera gagnrýninn vinur (e. critical friend) í samstarfshópi (e. significant network) en það er aðferð sem felur í sér að rýna saman kennsluhætti til gagns, skapa aðstæður fyrir traust og opin samskipti og veita stuðning í þeim áskorunum sem felast í kennslu.Niðurstöður benda til þess að á meðan markmið stjórnvalda hafi verið að „fletja út kúrfuna“ til að hefta og hægja á útbreiðslu COVID-19, hafi markmið háskólans um að tryggja öryggi og velferð nemenda og starfsfólks og að nemendur gætu lokið námskeiðum með farsælum hætti orðið til þess að lærdómskúrfa háskólakennara varð brött. Þó kennararnir þrír kenni innan sama fræðasviðs voru kennsluhættir þeirra og skipulag námskeiða með ólíkum hætti. Breytingar á kennsluháttum, svo sem aukin og persónulegri samskipti við nemendur, tæknilegar áskoranir og endurskoðun námsmats, einkenndu þessa nýju kennsluhætti og juku vinnuálag kennara. Þannig fólst lærdómur kennara í að tileinka sér notkun ýmiss konar hugbúnaðar til að mæta kröfum um rafræna kennsluhætti. Þeir þurftu jafnframt að endurskipuleggja námskeið sín sem og námsmat. Kennarar stóðu einnig frammi fyrir að sinna mörgum og ólíkum hlutverkum samtímis, m.a. á sviði stjórnunar og kennslufræði, auk þess að fela í sér bæði félagslegan og tæknilegan stuðning við nemendur. Niðurstöður þessarar rannsóknar styðja fyrri rannsóknir hvað varðar þær áskoranir sem felast í að skipta stöðugt um hlutverk. Slík umskipti geta reynst kennurum erfið, ekki síst ef ekki hefur gefist tækifæri til þjálfunar áður en beita á nýjum aðferðum. Breytingar á kennsluháttum fólu einnig í sér jákvæðar hliðar, svo sem nýja reynslu kennara af upplýsingatækni, aukið jafnræði milli staðnema og fjarnema svo og nemendamiðaðri sýn kennara í kennslu. Niðurstöður benda einnig til þess að þátttaka kennara í háskólakennslufræði, áhersla námsins á ígrunduð vinnubrögð sem og náin samvinna og gagnkvæmur stuðningur á milli kennaranna þriggja sem og milli þeirra og leiðbeinanda námskeiðsins Námsmat og endurgjöf hafi orðið til þess að átökin við bratta lærdómskúrfu urðu viðráðanleg og hægt var í sameiningu að draga lærdóm af reynslunni.

The critical friend – a way to develop as a tutor in problem-based learning groups

Tutors in problem-based learning (PBL) need to reflect on their role, to prevent stagnation. We aimed to explore the learning experiences of tutors gained by being and having a critical friend in a PBL group. Eight teachers, from several professional programs at the Faculty of Medicine of a Swedish university, participated in a cross-program activity involving the being and having a critical friend to improve their skills as PBL group tutors. They were individually interviewed, and the transcriptions were subjected to conventional qualitative content analysis. The results revealed that a critical friend from another discipline can be useful and that experiences from both roles, to be and to have a critical friend, is necessary for reflection and learning, and thus optimal results. We conclude that support from the organisation, knowledge sharing, and communication are required to enable a systematic use of critical friends to be implemented with credibility.