Using Text via Dialectical Journals to Nurture Liminal Spaces in Teacher Education

This article shares the findings of a study examining the use of dialectical journals as liminal spaces for the development of critical reflection in practicing teachers. In an online graduate course on critical teacher inquiry designed to foster teachers as antiracist multicultural educators, teachers engaged in dialogue with themselves as they responded to self-selected text segments in assigned readings throughout the course. Using Mezirow’s theory of transformation and specifically the typology of critical reflection of assumptions and critical self-reflection of assumptions, we analyzed the online dialectical journals of 23 teachers to better understand how their engagement with key texts both represented and influenced their reflective development and engagement in transformational learning. We conclude the journals to be powerful liminal spaces for teachers to engage in reframing of their assumptions.

The Power of Inquiry in Equity-Oriented Teacher Education

The international problem of differential achievement between groups of students has particular significance for New Zealand given its persistent problem of inequitable outcomes for Māori and Pasifika students, and those from poor communities. This qualitative study investigated how engagement in teacher inquiry supported student teachers’ understandings of, and practice for, equity. The 28 participants were in a one-year, equity-oriented Master’s initial teacher education programme. The data set comprised 84 research-related assignments participants completed for their teacher inquiry course. Thematic data analysis showed that the structured inquiry process supported participants to challenge inequity by problematizing student engagement and to address this by using a range of evidence to enhance their teaching. Overall, the study suggests that inquiry as research process and stance, along with the application of the Facets equity framework in authentic teaching and learning contexts, is a powerful source of student teacher equity-focused professional learning and practice.

Action Research as Pre-Service Teacher Inquiry Physical Education

The newest Canadian Elementary Health and Physical Education (2019) provincial curricula promotes inquiry as a pedagogical mode. AR complements this inquiry mode of instruction with its grounding in experience and practice which infuses educational roles. AR as practice-based inquiry helps new educators identify and reveal resolutions; however, first a need to want to improve needs to be identified, before next steps are taken. AR has the potential to open doors of perception, trigger new insights, and cultivate teacher development within teacher training and beyond while in-service. Admittedly, teachers change, no matter how incrementally, which permeates professional development, as witnessed in over 100 years of action research drawn upon herein. Extant AR literature is grounded in the educational development of participants as they teach. Development in AR is not actually a problem needing investigation; instead it remains a possibility that needs recursive attention to ensure it exists within the training of educators globally. Herein AR is illustrated via narrative accounts that reflect experiences while teacher training in an Ontario Faculty of Education programme.

Introduction to the Special Issue: Inquiring Into, About, and During Covid-19

One of the most pervasive ways the inquiry movement has needed to be reshaped since its inception is as a mechanism to respond to a global pandemic. As COVID-19 necessitated an abrupt transition to remote delivery of instruction, teachers needed a powerful form of professional learning to understand and respond with changes to serve their students during this challenging time. At P. K. Yonge Developmental Research School, a K-12 school, the leadership team designed a Canvas website devoted to teacher inquiry, enabling teachers to share experiences, collaborate, and address issues regarding the abrupt transition to emergency remote instruction. In this issue, five pandemic inquiry teams present their reflective essays, to describe their collaborations to re-imagine classroom communities; empower students to express their views of the pandemic; re-construct curricula to capture essential learnings; modify for struggling students, and bridge the opportunity gap for students of color.

Adopting Learning Analytics to Inform Postgraduate Curriculum Design: Recommendations and Research Agenda

Understanding student sentiment plays a vital role in understanding the changes that could or should be made in curriculum design at university. Learning Analytics (LA) has shown potential for improving student learning experiences and supporting teacher inquiry. Yet, there is limited research that reports on the adoption and actual use of LA to support teacher inquiry. This four-year longitudinal study captures sentiment of postgraduate students at a university in Ireland, by integrating LA with the steps of teacher inquiry. This study makes three important contributions to teaching and learning literature. First, it reports on the use of LA to support teacher inquiry over four one-year cycles of a Master of Science in Business Analytics programme between 2016 and 2020. Second, it provides evidence-based recommendations on how to optimise LA to support teacher inquiry, with specific attention as to how these can improve the assimilation of LA into the curriculum design and delivery. Third, the paper concludes with a research agenda to help improve the adoption and integration of LA in the future.