The Influence of Strategic Enrolment Management and Other Factors on the Competence of B.Ed. Graduates

The first part of this study consisted of a qualitative literature review to determine which variables other than strategic enrolment management might affect the competence of B.Ed. graduates. It was found that other factors might include teacher archetype, motivation to become a teacher, career planning and professional identity. This study presented the constructed operational definitions of each of the variables and the proposed structural relationships between them. In the second part, a quantitative approach was used and data were collected through a questionnaire. It is recommended that additional qualitative research is conducted to complement the findings of this study. Keywords: strategic enrolment management, teacher education, student teacher, teacher archetype, teacher competence

Mentoring for school-based teacher education

Due to the shortage of teachers at schools, the Ministry of Education and Science in Latvia has devoted special attention to fast track of teachers to teaching starting new teacher education project to attract capable and motivated professionals from various fields to the work of a teacher. This also raised the necessity for the development of programme and training competent teachers to act as mentors in school-based teacher education programme. The study aimed to explore and evaluate mentor education in the context of work-based (school-based) initial teacher education. The research sample consisted of 55 participants of mentor professional development programme and 2 mentor trainers. The data analysis of participants’ questionnaires, reflections, mentor trainers’ self-evaluations and feedback on participants’ assignments led to the guidelines for building partnership between schools and universities to promote a common understanding of school-based teacher education. Keywords: mentor education; school-based teacher education; student teacher; university-school partnership

Incidence of Design-Based Research Methodology in Science Education Articles: A Bibliometric Analysis

The design-based research (DBR) methodology has been standing out in the field of educational research promising to adapt to different scenarios and boost the development of educational innovations. However, 17 years after the beginning of the use of this methodology, there are still doubts about its potentiality. Given this, it is necessary to ascertain in which contexts this methodology has been used and what are the educational advances related to it. Thus, bibliometric mapping was carried out in this paper to generate indicators of studies on DBR, to indicate its relationship with the field of Science Education and situate Brazilian production in the international context. The study identified the distribution of publications by year, according to the number of publications, the main journals where these articles were published, the authors nationality, the most cited articles, the main keywords, and the network collaboration between authors. Data showed that the last five years have been the most promising for DBR publications and the North Americans were those who published more about this methodology. Despite the growing number of publications, the field of Science Education still makes little use of this methodology. The main applications found in DBR were related to teacher education, student motivation, and the use of information and communication technologies on teaching and learning.

Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) in Teacher Education: Reflections and Future Direction

The purpose of this article is to provide insights about the implementation of Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility-focused teacher training and shed light on practical and theoretical implications. Our reflections highlight that any professional preparation program that is committed to preparing teachers will choose the best way to promote learning. We have in mind that careful consideration for community involvement, having authentic commitment to Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility, being well informed about best practices and getting the teacher education student to “step outside the box” may be all important elements for success. Future challenges include delivering and assessing the impact of Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility-focused teacher training programs.

Active Learning: The Panacea to Miseducative Practices in Teacher Education

Traditional education has ripple effects in education. The way the educator was taught is almost always the way the educator teaches the learners. Traditional education has a narration sickness (Freire, 2000) and the so-called educators are proselytising ideologues who are after the production of copy cats. Active learning in teacher education is anchored in reflective thinking on all practices. The teacher education student should be encouraged to embark on action research which makes one to be introspective. Thus action research makes the teacher involved in active life-long learning. The teacher who has been groomed in action research abhors routine and ritualistic methods of teaching. The action research oriented teacher makes learners active in learning episodes.

Da Formação à Prática: Experiências de Duas Professoras Sobre as Investigações Estatísticas no Envolvimento do Aluno

ResumoInvestigações estatísticas, como tarefas a propor aos alunos, são uma poderosa ferramenta de ensino, promovendo a aprendizagem significativa dos conceitos e representações estatísticas. Esta atividade permite integrar o aluno ao processo estatístico, fazendo-o ver além dos dados, mesmo com conhecimentos estatísticos relativamente básicos. Este estudo busca analisar como professores de Matemática conduzem as investigações estatísticas, nomeadamente no que se refere aos seguintes aspectos relacionados ao envolvimento do aluno na escola: capacidade de motivar os alunos; o plano de aula; e a gestão de sala de aula. A investigação tem por base dois estudos de caso de professoras de Matemática participantes numa experiência de formação, num curso de especialização. A recolha de dados inclui gravações de áudio e vídeo das sessões relacionadas com as investigações e relatórios escritos das investigações, e a análise de dados é realizada segundo as etapas do ciclo que compõe uma investigação estatística. Os resultados mostram que as professoras, em seu planejamento, consideram que as investigações estatísticas permitem motivar os alunos a aprender a partir de temas relacionados com a própria realidade. No que se refere à gestão da aula, as professoras privilegiam a comunicação dos alunos. Os resultados sugerem a necessidade de um maior destaque deste assunto nos processos de formação de professores, de modo que eles experimentem atividades desta natureza e ganhem confiança para poder conduzir as diferentes etapas do ciclo investigativo no trabalho com os seus alunos. Palavras-chave: Ensino da Estatística. Investigações Estatísticas. Formação De Professores. Envolvimento do Aluno. AbstractStatistical investigations, as tasks to propose to the students, constitute a powerful teaching tool, promoting meaningful learning of the statistical concepts and representations. This activity allows integrating students in the statistical process, by making them see beyond data, even with basic statistical knowledge. This study seeks to analyze how mathematics teachers conduct statistical investigations, namely regarding the following aspects related to student involvement in school: the ability to motivate students, the teaching plan, and the classroom management. This research is based in two case studies of mathematics teachers who participated in a teacher education experience, in a specialization course. Data collection includes audio and video recording of the investigations-related sessions and data analysis is carried out according to the statistical investigation cycle. The results show that the teachers consider the statistical investigations in their planning are efficient to motivate the students to learn with themes related to their own reality. With regard to class management, teachers prioritize student communication. The results suggest the need for greater emphasis on this issue in teacher education processes, so that they themselves experience activities of this nature and gain confidence to conduct the different stages of the investigation cycle in the school context. Keywords: Statistics education. Statistical Investigations. Teacher Education. Student Engagement.

Teaching is More than Applying Knowledge:

Teaching is a challenging job, due to the changing requirements of changing times. Routine as a teacher is not possible. Student teachers need to be prepared to deal with challenging situations. The perception of requirements as challenges and problem-solving capacities are needed to master the job as a teacher. This article explains why problem-solving capacities are essential for teacher professionalization, what requirements challenge beginning teachers most, and how teacher education can foster student teachers to be prepared to deal with challenges of the first stage of their career. Based on the model of professionalization in which individual resources play a crucial role in the perception of challenge and the coping with it, results from a study on the challenges of beginning teachers were shown. The main finding that beginning teachers are most challenged by teaching that refers to individual students’ needs leads to consequences for teacher education. Student teachers need to build up adaptive knowledge for school and reflection competences. Explanations on a course at Zurich University of Teacher Education show how student teachers are educated in a problem-based setting to build up knowledge and competence that are useful in order to teach considering individual students’ needs. The article closes with a model of reflection on challenging situations that takes into account different factors of individual resources that are relevant for professionalization. Keywords: teacher education, developmental tasks, requirement appraisal, individual resources, reflection, problem-based learning

FORMAÇÃO DOCENTE INICIAL: perfis socioeconômico-cultural, leitor e escritor de alunos do curso de Pedagogia

É importante que a abertura para o transformar-se em professor seja iniciada ainda na graduação que deve propiciar experiências formativas que possibilitem o desenvolvimento de conhecimentos necessários à prática profissional, pois é o momento de se construir uma base para o desempenho profissional futuro. Nessa perspectiva, o objetivo do presente artigo é descrever e analisar o perfil socioeconômico-cultural, de leitura e de escrita do aluno ingressante no curso de Pedagogia, em 2017, por meio da aplicação de um questionário. A pesquisa é de abordagem qualitativa, de caráter descritivo-analítico, cuja amostra contou com 79 estudantes: 36 do turno vespertino e 43 do período noturno. Os dados apontam que os alunos do curso de Pedagogia são predominantemente do sexo feminino, jovens, solteiros, advindos da escola pública e sustentados pela família. Seus pais, em sua maioria, concluíram no máximo o ensino fundamental. O principal meio de acesso à informação desses estudantes é a internet, utilizada principalmente para pesquisas e lazer (bate-papos, redes sociais, jogos ou vídeos). Outro aspecto que ficou bastante claro é que tanto o perfil leitor como o escritor se consolidaram em experiências positivas na infância, seja por estímulo de familiares ou da escola. Considerar a relação entre os perfis apresentados pode ser determinante para a formação de um futuro professor com bom nível cultural, que seja um mediador de leitura e escrita.Palavras-chave: Formação Inicial do Professor. Perfil dos Alunos. Curso de Pedagogia.INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION: socioeconomic-cultural, reading and writing profiles of pedagogy studentsAbstractIt is important that student teachers be open to becoming teachers from the very beginning of undergraduate studies, which in turn should provide them with formative experiences that promote the development of practical professional knowledge, as this is the proper time to build the basis for future professional expertise. From this perspective, this article aims to describe and analyze the socioeconomic-cultural, reading and writing profile of students that entered the Pedagogy program in 2017 by means of a questionnaire. The participants in this qualitative research of a descriptive-analytic nature are 79 student teachers: 36 from the afternoon shift and 43 from the evening shift of the program. The results indicate that the students are mostly female, young adults, single, public school graduates, and financially dependent on their families. Most of their parents have only completed elementary school. Their chief information source is the Internet, which is mainly used for leisure (chat-rooms, social networks, games or videos) and research purposes. Moreover, their reading and writing profile was established during childhood, motivated by either their families or their schools. Getting to know their profiles is fundamental to crafting the education of well-rounded teachers capable of facilitating reading and writing.Keywords: Initial Teacher Education. Student Profile. Pedagogy.FORMACIÓN DOCENTE INICIAL: perfiles socioeconomico-cultural, lectura y escritura de alumnos del curso de PedagogiaResumen Es importante que la apertura para transformarse en profesor sea iniciada aún en el pre-grado que debe propiciar experiencias formativas que posibiliten el desarrollo de conocimientos necesarios a la práctica profesional, pues es el momento de construirse una base para el desempeño profesional futuro. En esa perspectiva, el objetivo del presente artículo es describir y analisar el perfil socioeconómico-cultural, de lectura y escritura del alumno ingresante al curso de Pedagogia, en 2017, por medio de la aplicación de un cuestionario. La investigación es de abordaje cualitativa, de carácter descriptivo-analítico, cuya muestra contó con 79 estudiantes: 36 del turno de dia e 43 del periodo nocturno. Los datos apuntan que los alumnos del curso de Pedagogia son predominantemente del sexo femenino, jóvenes, solteros, provenientes de escuelas públicas y sustentados por su família. Sus padres, en la mayoria, concluyeron máximo la enseñanza primaria. El principal medio de acceso a la información de estos estudiantes es el internet, utilizada principalmente para investigación y distracciones (conversaciones, redes sociales, juegos o videos). Otro aspecto que quedo bastante claro es que tanto el perfil del lector como del escritor se consolidan en experiencias positivas en la infancia, sea por estímulo de familiares o de la escuela. Considerar la relación entre los perfiles presentados puede ser determinante para la formación de un futuro profesor com buen nivel cultural, que sea un mediador de lectura y escritura.