The formation of catechists through a laboratory

This article seeks to show how the on-going formation of catechists can be more adapted to the contemporary needs of catechists. Today, we can no longer speak of a homogeneous society which encounters the same difficulties and problems. On the other hand, our society is characterised by fluidity and constant change. The laboratory as a method for the on-going formation of catechists seeks to actively meet this demand. The laboratory as a method for the formation of catechists is undergirded by characteristics and advantages over and above the other traditional methods of catechist formation which clearly make it the preferred method for the on-going formation of catechists today. These characteristics and advantages are explored in the text.peer-reviewe

A Load of Cobbler’s Children: Beyond the Model Designing Processor

HCI has developed rich understandings of people at work and at play with technology: most people that is, except designers, who remain locked in the information processing paradigm of first wave HCI. Design methods are validated as if they were computer programs, expected to produce the same results on a range of architectures and hardware. Unfortunately, designers are people, and thus interfere substantially (generally to good effects) with the ‘code’ of design methods. We need to rethink the evaluation and design of design and evaluation methods in HCI. A logocentric proposal based on resource function vocabularies is presented

Towards Learner Centredness in Higher Education: Exploring English Language Classrooms in the UAE.

This thesis presents an exploration into the manifestations of pedagogy intended to be learner centred and the effect of such pedagogy on learning and learners’ in English Language Teaching (ELT) classrooms, at a University in the UAE. As an insider researcher using a sociocultural perspective, I explored student perceptions in the face of an educational reform: the implementation of learner centred approaches in my own English language classrooms to understand the way students’ construed the social reality of learner centred classrooms. Foregrounded by theories of social constructionism, this study uses Alexander’s (2004) principles of Dialogic Teaching that emphasise the communicative tenets of learner centredness through the development of classroom interaction that encourages student voice, engagement, critical thinking and active learning, to analyse the quality, dynamic and content of talk that occurred through various teacher led interventions. Considering learning and development as social processes, the study assumes a poststructuralist stance to understand how discourse shapes one’s sense of self and self-worth. Grounded by these theories, this thesis explored pedagogy that aimed to be learner centred by investigating the way students and teacher used shared talk in ELT Classrooms to extend and develop their learning and by extension their identities. Interpretive data collection methods were used to collect video recordings of lessons, semi-structured interview data as well as written response data over the course of one semester. Using the Nvivo software, transcribed data from the development of shared classroom talk was analyzed to understand how the teacher attempted to implement learner centred instruction and how learners experienced it. Findings indicated that classroom dialogues were of low dialogic quality, consisting of limited, brief exchanges that were teacher fronted. Further, findings also revealed the complexities in implementing dialogic, learner centred practices which reinforce such instruction as being theoretically rich but difficult to apply. While researchers theorize the way learner centred, dialogic instruction needs to occur, the subjective and fluid aspects of learning and learners, who prefer the familiar and resist change, result in manifestations of this instructional approach to appear quite differently in the reality of the classroom context. Despite the low educational value of current classroom talk, the results demonstrated that the development of learner centredness through dialogic instruction has been initiated within ELT Classroom contexts and are in a ‘fledgling’ stage. In recognizing that the analysis of classroom discussions revealed an inherent ‘talk norm’ that was teacher directed and teacher dominant, shared whole class interactions demonstrated attempts by myself as the teacher to model dialogic talk. Two things emerged as a result of data analysis, first that attempts to implement learner centred instruction is made during whole class interactions, however such instruction is not very dialogic in engaging learners with the learning; secondly the potential for such learning to develop further to become more dialogic is apparent through the ‘talk awareness’ that participants demonstrated during the interactional episodes.Education InternationalEsmee Fairbairn FoundationBritish AcademyJoint Information Systems Committee (JISC)Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)Teaching and Learning Research ProgrammeArts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)Arts and Humanities Research CouncilBritish Council - ManchesterAlan Turing InstituteCulham St Gabriel's TrustFalmouth College of ArtsNational Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM)Esmee Fairbairn FoundationQatar National Research FoundationUniversity of MalayaHigher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Geography Earth & Environmental SciencesBritish AcademyRoyal Society (Government)Youth Sport Trus

BECOMING A PERSON-CENTRED FACILITATOR OF LEARNING: A participatory action-oriented inquiry exploring the experience of embodying person-centredness by educators working in hospital settings

Background: Many educators working in the hospital setting are not well-prepared for their role. They rely on the expert teacher-centred model which is not aligned with nor contributing to developing person-centred cultures. As these educators are positioned to contribute to developing and advancing person-centredness, it is imperative they are enabled to become person-centred in their practice. Little is known about how educators transform from the expert teacher-centred approach to a person-centred facilitation approach. This study investigated how educators become person-centred facilitators. Approach and Methods: With a participatory, action-oriented research design informed by four person-centred methodological principles predicated on practice development and relational inquiry, educators in the hospital setting co-investigated their experience of becoming person-centred facilitators. Collective and individual capacity development activities enabled educators to co-create a pathway to embodying person-centredness. Data was analyzed through five phases of relational inquiry infused critical creative hermeneutics. Findings: A conceptual framework representing becoming person-centred emerged and a Roadmap for Becoming Person-centred was developed. Transformation was guided by three principles, Starting with Self, Developing Community & Belonging, and Bumping Against Culture & Inviting Transformation. Becoming occurred intrapersonally, interpersonally, and contextually through moments of discovery, reconciliation, and action. Findings indicate the four person-centred methodological principles, developed into the RACC Model, are effective in providing educational theory and working in person-centred ways. These principles enable educators to contribute to advancing person-centredness within the realities and complexities of the hospital setting. Conclusions and Implications: Educators working in hospital settings can be enabled to become person-centred facilitators by providing them person-centred learning opportunities and support over time. As pedagogy, the four person-centred methodological principles should be used within orientation programs so educators attain competence in educational theory and person-centredness and use these principles within their own practice. As educators embody being person-centred facilitators, they can contribute to advancing person-centredness

Wake up, wake up! It's me! It's my life! patient narratives on person-centeredness in the integrated care context: a qualitative study

Person-centered care emphasizes a holistic, humanistic approach that puts patients first, at the center of medical care. Person-centeredness is also considered a core element of integrated care. Yet typologies of integrated care mainly describe how patients fit within integrated services, rather than how services fit into the patient's world. Patient-centeredness has been commonly defined through physician's behaviors aimed at delivering patient-centered care. Yet, it is unclear how 'person-centeredness' is realized in integrated care through the patient voice. We aimed to explore patient narratives of person-centeredness in the integrated care context

Stakeholder perceptions of child-centred education in Saudi public sector preschools : using practice architecture to examine progress towards Saudi Vision 2030

Prior to Saudi Arabia’s latest development plan Vision 2030, the implementation of Western child-centred approaches to education has proven difficult. Firstly, there is no history of theory and practice associated with child-centredness in Saudi Arabian society and culture. Secondly, the country’s Wahhabi Islamic tradition has made modernization difficult, with education emerging as an area of particular tension. Yet education is recognized as playing a key role in improving long-term prosperity and facilitating Saudi Arabia’s transition towards a knowledge-economy based on 21st century skills: ‘creativity, imagination and critical thinking’ (Al-Issa, 2009: 39-40). As the global trend is towards rights-based education, the question of whether Western theories and practices of education have relevance in non-Western contexts is of considerable importance in Saudi Arabia.This study aims to show how Vision 2030 is providing the principle mechanism for bringing Western perceptions and understandings of ‘child-centred education’ and a traditional Wahhabi interpretation of Islam into closer alignment. To this end, the main research question is as follows: How does using Practice Architecture to explore Child-Centred Education in public sector preschools in Saudi Arabia develop understanding of progress towards Vision 2030?To answer this question, this research explores what child-centred educational policy, theory and practice means in the context of three public preschools in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. The interview data and policy stipulations revealed that the intertwining of religion and traditional Arab ethnic norms and values in the Saudi Self-Learning Curriculum for Kindergarten has produced an adapted version of child-centredness.As Prince Mohammed bin Salman has acknowledged, children are ‘our nation’s pride and architects of the future’ (Al-Saud, 2017: 7). The findings reveal that by presenting a more tolerant and moderate approach to Islamic beliefs and practices, Vision 2030 is providing a mechanism for achieving equality and social justice by bringing these two models of education into closer alignment

Thai pre-service teachers' beliefs about the learner-centred approach and their classroom practices

PhD ThesisThe learner-centred approach has been widely used, not only in general education, but also in language teaching, since the 1960s. However, the meaning of this approach has been interpreted differently by practitioners. Since 1999, the educational reform in Thailand, which was inspired by the 1997 Constitution and the 1999 Thai National Education Act, has made it mandatory for the learner-centred approach to be applied to teaching at all levels. To date, much research on the implementation of the learner-centred approach by in-service teachers has been undertaken. However, little research has been conducted on pre-service teachers’ beliefs about the learner-centred approach and their classroom practices. Understanding pre-service teachers’ beliefs will contribute to the improvement of their teaching practices and of teacher education programmes. The study explored six Thai pre-service English teachers’ understanding and the extent to which their classroom practices reflected learner-centredness during their internship, and determined the relationship between their beliefs and classroom practices. The investigation adopted a qualitative approach, including semi-structured interviews, non-participant observations, and document analysis. The findings reveal that the Thai pre-service teachers possessed varying degrees of understanding of the learner-centred approach and its application. They had a superficial and fragmented understanding of and some misconceptions about the learner-centred approach. They therefore adopted this approach to teaching in a limited fashion during their internship. The divergences between their beliefs and their classroom practices may have been caused by their shallow understanding of and their misconceptions about this approach. Other factors, such as personal background and cognitive, affective, experiential and contextual issues could also have impacted on classroom practices, inhibiting the translation of their beliefs into practice. iii This study has important and far-reaching curriculum implications for pre-service teacher training in Thailand with regard to the new model of pre-service teacher training. The findings also have pedagogical implications for pre-service teacher training beyond Thailand, and add to the literature new insights into pre-service teachers’ understanding of the learner-centred approach, their pedagogical practices, and factors facilitating and hindering the application of the learner-centred approach. The findings demonstrate that research on teachers’ beliefs makes the most noteworthy contributions to a better understanding of teachers’ pedagogical practices

Teacher rolers in teaching foreign languages: retrospective analysis and insights into the future

У статті наведено історичний екскурс у розвиток підходів до викладання іноземних мов. Концептуальні ознаки кожного з підходів охарактеризовано в термінах методів та прийомів, типових в межах розглянутих методологічних парадигм. Особливу увагу приділено професійним компетенція та ролям, що притаманні вчителю в контексті діяльнісно-орієнтованого підходу до навчання іноземних мов. (The article offers retrospective analysis of approaches to teaching foreign languages. Peculiarities of each of the approaches are interpreted pertaining to the set of methods and techniques available within the framework of the methodological paradigms under consideration. Special emphasis is placed on professional competences and roles inherent to teachers in the context of action-oriented learner-centred approach to language teaching.

Defining integrated learning: perspectives from alumni of The Christian University in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

This article examines the various perspectives of alumni from the Christian Bilingual University of the Congo (UCBC) on the topic of integrated learning. In this article, both an understanding and a definition of the concept of integrated learning are achieved, by analysing data obtained from the twelve alumni. The tool used was semi-structured interviews. Five themes emerged as part of the definition of the concept. Firstly, integrated learning is a holistic education. Secondly, it is described as a complete education because it deals with all aspects of learners’ lives. Thirdly, integrated learning emphasises theory and practice and, fourthly, it prepares learners to be people of significance in their nation. Fifthly and lastly, it is a learner-centred process focused on building the inner person. These perspectives on integrated learning are judged to be important for Christian universities and higher education practitioners who are all invited to design ways of holistically involving learners in learning.https://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.81.2.225