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Being Able to see the Wood from the Trees in Courses of Teacher Education
Abstract
When cogitating developments in education, it is important from time-to-time to stand back from the main-stream of developments and try to re-capture ‘the big picture’. Such a time now exists in relation to teacher education. This paper is a response to this situation. It makes the case for three principles which, it is held, should guide the design and development of programmes on how classroom practitioners at the pre-service and on-going teacher-development levels, should be prepared for, and guided in, their work. These are as follows: teachers should have a very good command of the subject matter of their teaching areas; teachers should know how to teach; teachers, along with students of education studies and policy makers, should engage in reflection not only on work at the classroom level, but also on education more broadly.
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During the last three decades, earth science has been re-conceptualized as an interdisciplinary discipline entitled Earth System Science (ESS), which is based on knowledge of the physical earth system and human impact on the earth. While there is increasing effort to teach earth as a system in K-12 education, teachers' preparedness of to teach earth system is still in its infancy. This article focuses on reviewing the literature of teachers' knowledge of earth systems and of how teachers' knowledge of subject matter affects their teaching practice and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). First, the study investigated a literature of PCK in general as well as in science teaching. Then this study duscuss what teachers' subject matter knowledge (SMK) is and what it means to be in teaching earth system science. Third, a literature of teachers' knowledge of earth system was reviewed. Finally, a number of suggestions and implications are made as to what teacher education program should do to better prepare future teachers to teach earth systems.
Forty years ago, sociology, psychology, philosophy and history had a secure position in the academic study of education in the UK but that is no longer the case. The policy context that has increasingly come to influence our teaching and the funding of our research, with its pressure on the production of knowledge which stresses use value, has, we argue, increasingly marginalised the potential of disciplinary contributions to the study of education. In this introductory paper to this special issue, we begin by examining competing definitions of what a discipline actually is and then chart the rise and fall of the influence of the different disciplines in education over the last 40 years. Following Barnet (19902.
Barnett , R. 1990. The idea of higher education, Buckingham: SRHE/Open University Press. View all references), we do that through examining both their ‘sociological’ undermining (changes in their mechanisms and sites of production) and their ‘epistemological’ undermining with the growing public and self doubt about their contribution. The result, we suggest, is that now we have a large number of professionals working together but, when compared with other social science disciplines, lacking in intellectual autonomy and coherence. But, we ask, does that matter? Do sociology, psychology, philosophy and history—and indeed the whole range of disciplinary based perspectives—economics, geography—have anything to offer research, scholarship and university teaching in education now and in the future? We suggest that this is the challenge that the disciplines of education now face in the UK and it is the challenge we posed to the contributors to this special issue of the Oxford Review of Education.
Teachers’ subject matter knowledge (SMK) is one factor contributing to teaching “successfully”, as this provides a basis from which pedagogical content knowledge develops.
UK-based trainee science teachers teach all sciences to age 14 and often up to age 16. Trainees have specialist science knowledge in chemistry, physics or biology from their degrees. Other sciences may not have been studied since school. Thus, trainee science teachers often teach “outside specialism”. The extent to which teaching within and outside specialism influences successful teaching, ensuring learning objectives are achieved, was investigated.
Sources 71 trainees use for preparing within and outside specialism science lessons for 11-14s and 11-16s and effects on teacher self-confidence of working in these two domains were probed by questionnaire and interview. All trainees responded to open and closed questions, and Likert scale statements exploring preferences for teaching, self-confidence, handling subject-related questions within and outside specialism, and attitudes towards learning new SMK. A sub-group of 12 participated in individual semi-structured interviews.
Results are counter-intuitive: trainees teach more successful lessons outside specialism, particularly in the early stages. This relates to using a richer range of SMK sources, including, crucially, advice from experienced colleagues. Within specialism, trainees report an inability to select appropriate knowledge and /or strategies and a sense of conflict in teaching inaccurate information. Some “anxious” trainees rely heavily on extant materials for outside specialism teaching. “Super-confident” trainees able to teach any science focus on selection of appropriate instructional strategies and realise early on the need to transform SMK.
Incl. abstract, bib. One of the recent tributes to the success of Finnish schooling was the PISA 2000 project report. As befits the field of education, the explanations are primarily pedagogical, referring especially to the excellent teachers and high-quality teacher education. Without underrating the explanatory power of these statements, this paper presents some of the social, cultural and historical factors behind the pedagogical success of the Finnish comprehensive school. From the perspectives of history and the sociology of education, it also sheds light on some ironic paradoxes and dilemmas that may be concealed by the success. The focus is on the problematic nature of international comparative surveys based on school performance indicators. The question is whether they really make it possible to understand schooling in different countries, or whether they are just part of processes of 'international spectacle' and 'mutual accountability'.
Understanding Contemporary Education offers an essential exploration of key concepts and issues in education that will allow education studies students, as well as trainee and practising teachers to engage in reflection, not only on work at the classroom level, but on education more broadly. Using detailed examples, the book problematises many popular and taken-for-granted views, allowing the reader to challenge and seriously consider the nature of the education enterprise. In each chapter, a concept is carefully considered, with major features, controversies, and strengths and weaknesses highlighted. Key follow-up questions challenge the reader to reflect on specific issues, and encourage involvement, not just in their own teaching, but in the planning and determination of the total programme of their school, and where possible, that of the nation. The book is divided into seven main parts: The Social Context of Education Education Policy Curriculum Teaching and Learning Leadership in Education Teacher Preparation International Developments in Education. Drawing upon a wide variety of theoretical positions, Understanding Contemporary Education provides an accessible introduction to key themes and concepts in education, challenging readers to fully consider the purpose of education and to reflect intelligently on issues that affect all schools. It is a must-read book for those on education studies courses, as well as trainee and practising teachers.
Recent years have shown the growth of federal legislation and programs having a profound impact on educational policy and practice, and a decline in reliance on broadly based educational justifications. Paralleling this development has been the emergence of well-endowed and influential private foundations, and an increase in corporate influence in shaping policy. In this volume the authors consider the discourse, rhetoric, and underlying values that sustain these developments alongside those that underlie more longstanding and competing educational theories and practices. This volume highlights the importance of recognizing opposing conceptualizations of education-some more educationally productive than others-and their core values, approaches to student learning, strengths and weaknesses, and justification. The authors analyze and critique what Jane Roland Martin has referred to as 'the deep structure of educational thought', and seek improved educational policy and practice with particular reference to curriculum and pedagogy. It features a comparative analysis of competing discourses including autocratic control, limited personal development, and praxis.
An interpretation of the concept of the practical for the field for curriculum must pay critical attention to the philosophies of knowledge in which the interpretation is grounded. The main traditions of social science (broadly conceived as the empirical-analytic, the hermeneuticphenomenological, and the critical-dialectical) each have associated with them quite distinct ways of knowing and distinct modes of being practical. This paper seeks to demonstrate that it is only through such critical reflection that the questions of greatest significance to the field can be adequately addressed.
Much of what teachers need to know to be successful is invisible to lay observers, leading to the view that teaching requires little formal study and to frequent disdain for teacher education programs. The weakness of traditional program models that are collections of largely unrelated courses reinforce this low regard. This article argues that we have learned a great deal about how to create stronger, more effective teacher education programs. Three critical components of such programs include tight coherence and integration among courses and between course work and clinical work in schools, extensive and intensely supervised clinical work integrated with course work using pedagogies that link theory and practice, and closer, proactive relationships with schools that serve diverse learners effectively and develop and model good teaching. The article also urges that schools of education should resist pressures to water down preparation, which ultimately undermine the preparation of entering teachers, the reputation of schools of education, and the strength of the profession.
To understand human psychology, behavioural scientists must stop doing most of their experiments on Westerners, argue Joseph Henrich, Steven J. Heine and Ara Norenzayan.
Reviews both the scholarly literature on the subject and donors' experience. The book provides an overview of primary education systems and argues that developing countries must do more to serve the needs of all children. Those who have traditionally been underrepresented in primary school - girls and children from poor and rural families - must have greater access to education and more encouragement to enroll. At the same time, the curriculum must be strengthened, teaching made more effective, and other measures taken to ensure that when students complete the primary cycle, they have mastered what is taught. The authors discuss strategies for improving five aspects of primary education systems. The book concludes by outlining the challenges countries face at different stages of educational development and then suggesting priorities for reform. Appendix tables provide data on 129 countries, individually and by income group. -from Publisher
Talks To Teachers On Psychology ; and to Students on Some of Life’s Ideals / William James Note: The University of Adelaide Library eBooks @ Adelaide.
! Understanding% Contemporary% Education:% Key% Themes% and% Issues.! London:!Routledge.! Organization! for! Economic! Co9operation! and! Development
- O ' Donoghue
O'Donoghue,! T.! (2017).! Understanding% Contemporary% Education:% Key% Themes% and% Issues.!
London:!Routledge.!
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http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/16/14/44978960.pdf.!Accessed!September,!2016.!