Factors Influencing Teacher Educators’ Research Engagement in the Reform Process of Teacher Education Institutions in Myanmar

This study addresses how similar teacher education institutions differ in terms of teacher educators’ research engagement and what causes these differences. Underlying factors were explored by comparing teacher educators’ research engagement at two Education Colleges in Myanmar that differed in terms of the educators’ research activities. Applying the qualitative case study research design, data were drawn from a document analysis and semi-structured interviews with the college principals and teacher educators. Institutional expectation and encouragement for teacher educators’ research engagement, their views on research, ways of their research engagement, and the motives and challenges in each case were scrutinized using a summative approach to qualitative content analysis. The findings demonstrate that personal, institutional, policy-related, and system-related factors influence teacher educators’ research engagement. This suggests that, apart from the consideration of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, teacher educators’ autonomy in their research engagement should be secured and their policy awareness and buy-in assured.

Teaching internship from the metaphorical lens of Filipino prospective teachers

<span>Understanding prospective teachers’ (PTs) conceptions and perspectives about teaching internship may serve as an anchor for understanding their new experiences. The study explores Filipino PTs’ concepts of teaching internship through a metaphorical lens. Seventy-five PTs from a state-owned university in the Philippines served as the subjects of this qualitative inquiry. Data came from written narratives and explanations provided by the participants to describe their ideas on what a teaching internship is all about. The metaphoric images were enumerated, counted, interpreted, and classified to show meaningful patterns and themes. Findings showed that conceptions converged into six categories teaching internship as: 1) An endless learning venture; 2) A rewarding obstacle to surpass; 3) A chance to be a surrogate parent; 4) An enhancement of pedagogical competence; 5) An immersion in the actual workplace; and 6) An ultimate path towards becoming a teacher. Metaphors used by the participants were a mix of positive and negative symbolisms. The study offered possible descriptions for these conceptions and their implications on teacher education institutions (TEIs). The supervision of the off-campus teaching internship program could be enhanced at the onset of Education 4.0.</span>

A Study of Evaluation Methods of Teaching Practice of Distance Teacher Education Institutions

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.

ASSESSMENT PRACTICES IN FOUR YEARS TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS

It was aimed and claimed during the teacher education curriculum reform in Pakistan 2010, that formative and summative assessment and evaluation will be improvised at teacher education institutions, to meet the quality of teacher education programs. The study at hand was conducted in two provinces of Pakistan to review the assessment practices within new four years teacher education programs offered between 2010 - 2018 in two provinces –Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Teachers, students and heads of the institutions were included in the sample of study. Mixed method research design was opted to explore the practices and difference among institutional practices. The findings of the study revealed that Teacher Education Institutions in Punjab practiced more of the modern assessment techniques and yielded better results than Teacher Education Institutions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It was further revealed that Teacher Education Institutions in Private sector practiced formative assessment better than Teacher Education Institutions in the Public sector; while the institutions in public sector were focused more on summative assessment technique. It was concluded that the institutions focusing on modern and formative assessment stemmed into better learning opportunities provided to prospective teachers as compared to the institutions practicing only traditional and summative assessment techniques.

A Critical Appraisal of the Existing Practices during Practicum in Pakistani Teacher Education Programmes

This survey study explores and discusses the implementation of practicum model for B.Ed (Hons.) Elementary Programme provided by USAID and Higher Education Commission, Pakistan in three different teacher education institutions of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. All 60 Student Teachers (STs) were taken as a sample. Data were collected through a questionnaire from the students enrolled in Semester VIII. The questionnaire comprised of open and close ended questions, based on week-wise tasks mentioned in the Practicum Guidebook. Results of the study reveal that all three Teacher Education institutions are implementing teaching practicum based on their own priorities. In addition, the analysis reveals that STs of two institutions are providing more opportunities to practice the expected tasks. However, all three institutions must enhance STs’ lesson planning and reflective skills by providing opportunities for observing cooperative teachers teach, co-planning, triad meetings and regular seminars. It is also recommended to use National Professional Standards for Teachers for assessing STs’ skills. Keywords: Practicum Model, Student Teachers, Teaching Practicum, National Professional Standards for Teachers

Generic Competencies and Specific Competencies among Teacher Education Institutions in Indonesia

The aim of this paper is to discuss and clarify the general framework of teachers’ competencies, especially on generic and specific competencies that shall be mastered by prospective TEIs in Indonesia. This study presents some empirical base data from selected Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) in Indonesia concerning with generic competencies and specific competencies that shall be achieved by prospective teachers. In addition, the purpose of study also to have relationship between competencies and teaching philosophies implemented by individual lectures. Descriptive research is one in which information is collected without changing the environment/setting of study. Instruments used were questioners, interview, focus group discussion, and documentation study. Result shows that generic and specific competencies will be influenced by individual teaching philosophies of lecturers. They are strongly influenced and inspired by institutional teaching philosophy. Teaching philosophy is obviously translated in daily teaching learning activities in campus environment. Results also show that teacher competencies affect their values, behaviors, communication, aims and practices in school and also they support professional development and curricular studies. Thus, teachers’ competencies that will improve the teaching-learning process in school is of great importance.

Enhancing the Intercultural Competence Development of Prospective Music Teacher Education: A Case Study in Indonesia

Music teacher education institutions in Indonesia are challenged to address their students’ intercultural needs due to increasing interaction at the global level. Therefore, this research seeks to discover suitable formulation for teacher education institutions in Indonesia in implementing music teacher education and training to equip them with intercultural competence. This research employs case study design, in which the data were obtained using interview conducted in July and August 2020. This aims at obtaining concepts based on the need analysis of intercultural competence through processes, actions and interactions from the participants’ perspective. The participants were students of Music Teacher Education Department of Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. The findings show that 1) the sensitivity to cultural diversity of music teacher candidates needs to be enhanced to expand the awareness of their own and other cultures; and 2) enhancing intercultural competence requires both theoretical and practical courses related to Indonesian identity and global culture. The findings are significant considering that every music teacher should have the same perception in teaching, which is in accordance with the diversity of Indonesian and world cultures.

Experiences and Perceptions of Multiculturality, Diversity, Whiteness and White Privilege in Music Teacher Education in Mid-Norway – Contributions to Excluding Structures

This article focuses on how staff in musical teacher education institutions experience and perceive the terms multiculturality, diversity, whiteness and white privilege, and how this might contribute to excluding structures. The author suggests through a post-qualitative rhizomatic analysis some ways through which excluding structures might be maintained, some touchpoints between different fields of practice, and some marginal practices with enough power to create alternative norms. The author also suggests some points of immanence, what can be seen as remaining within (unspoken of) the practices and a list of possible excluding practices and/or possible consequences for the marginalized groups.

THE TPACK CONFIDENCE OF PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS IN SELECTED PHILIPPINE TEACHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

The changing educational landscape of Philippine education in the past decade poses challenges to the implementers of the curriculum innovations – the teachers. Consequently, this has put more pressure on the teacher education institutions (TEIs) to produce a quantity of quality teachers. From this context, this paper examines the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) confidence level of pre-service teachers in selected Philippine teacher education institutions. The TPACK Model has been a very useful framework for academic stakeholders to understand and measure the level of technology integration in teaching and learning. Using a 64-item self-diagnostic questionnaire designed to measure the dimensions of TPACK in terms of learning experience and practice, and assessing the responses of 187 graduating pre-service teachers from selected Philippine TEIs, the data suggest that the pre-service teachers are fairly confident with the learning experience they get from the TEIs and that by using these experiences they frequently demonstrate the acceptable teacher competency and standards. Furthermore, the levels of TPACK confidence of the secondary and elementary pre-service teachers significantly differ from each other such that the former are more confident with their learning experience and practice. Data also show that there is a significant relationship between the quality of learning experience and the ability of the pre-service teachers to demonstrate the core competencies of TPACK. Hence, teacher education institutions must consider innovating their curriculum through training, subject-focused pedagogical modeling, and subject-specific technologies.