Curricular guidelines on foreign language teaching. A syllabus proposal for secondary education

This Master's Thesis has been conceived with three aims. The first one is that of compiling and listing all the international recommendations, official dispositions at the national level, the educational laws in the autonomous community of Castilla y León, and the center´s documents that affect the action of teaching English as a foreign language during the second cycle of Secondary Education. The second one is that of proposing a trimester syllabus structured around five units and which has been conceived as part of an annual syllabus, and about which all the relevant details at the curricular, didactic, and methodological levels are thoroughly explained. Lastly, during the conduction of this paper there are some clues that have been observed and which might be useful for other educators when programming a syllabus for a group of similar characteristicsEste Trabajo Fin de Máster tiene tres objetivos. El primero de ellos es recopilar y analizar las recomendaciones internacionales, la normativa nacional, la legislación autonómica en Castilla y León, y los documentos de centro que afectan a la docencia de la lengua extranjera inglesa durante el segundo ciclo de la Educación Secundaria Obligatoria. El segundo de ellos es una propuesta de programación trimestral compuesta por cinco unidades y concebida como parte de una programación anual, y sobre la que se comentan todos los detalles relevantes tanto a nivel curricular, como a los niveles metodológico y didáctico. Por último, durante la realización de este trabajo se han obtenido algunas pistas que podrían servir a otros docentes a la hora de programar para un grupo de características similares.Departamento de Didáctica de la Lengua y LiteraturaMáster en Profesor de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria y Bachillerato, Formación Profesional y Enseñanzas de Idioma

Teacher competence development – a European perspective

This chapter provides an European perspectives on teacher competence development

Developing a school based science curriculum: Teachers\u27 work as language work

While it is widely recognised that language is consequential in teachers\u27 work within the classroom, this thesis argues that it is also consequential in their curriculum development work outside the classroom. The study takes a phenomenological approach based in a single school, and the key data sources are transcripts of teachers\u27 meetings held to develop a new curriculum framework for their junior secondary science classes. The broad aims of the study are to better understand the ways in which language is consequential in that work, to consider the implications these have for understanding school based curriculum development, and to identify the kinds of language-related knowledges that support teachers\u27 curriculum development activity. The review of literature in Chapter 2 focuses initially on constructions of the teacher, the teaching labour process, and teacher knowledge, with an emphasis on the place of language within such constructions. Three currently dominant perspectives on curriculum development are then identified: curriculum development as task, as policy making and as teacher agency. While the consequentiality of language is implicit in each of these perspectives, it is not given any priority, suggesting the value of a phenomenological study focusing specifically on the consequentiality of language in teachers\u27 school based curriculum development

Investigating PGCE pre-service teachers' level of understanding of life sciences as a scientific discipline

A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Master of Science (MSc.) in Science Education to the Faculty of Science, School of Education, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017The aim of this study was to investigate PGCE pre-service teachers’ level of understanding of life sciences as a scientific discipline. The investigation was carried out at a Higher Education institution where Life science is studied. A questionnaire containing a Likert scale section with twenty two items, and open ended section with two statements was administered for this study. The participants were sixteen Postgraduate certificate in Education (PGCE) Life science pre-service teachers at a South African Higher Educational institute. Also, an interview was conducted with the participating students and two teacher educators who teach in the PGCE program. The theoretical framework adopted for this research is built on Bernstein’s legitimation code theory (LCT). The data was deductively analysed qualitatively by using the legitimation code theory (LCT) dimensions to answer the research questions posed for this study. The findings of this study revealed that PGCE Life science pre-service teachers show an understanding of their disciplinary knowledge in terms of its important knowledge content (specialization), diversified nature of the disciplinary knowledge (density) and the emergent and existence of the accumulated knowledge (Temporality). Also in their responses, it was evident that they recognize the place of Nature of science (NOS) as part of their disciplinary knowledge, that is, they have a better gaze of the need for SMK, inquiry based skills, and history of science (HoS). The educational implications as well as recommendations of this study were explained. The recommendation for this study is that, the nature of Life science as a discipline of knowing should be made explicit to students.LG201

Community-based mentoring and innovating through Web 2.0

The rise of social software, often termed Web 2.0, has resulted in heightened awareness of the opportunities for creative and innovative approaches to learning that are afforded by network technologies. Social software platforms and social networking technologies have become part of the learning landscape both for those who learn formally within institutions, and for those who learn informally via emergent web-based learning communities. As collaborative online learning becomes a reality, new skills in communication and collaboration are required in order to use new technologies effectively, develop real digital literacy and other 21st century skills

On Learning

This is a philosophical work that develops a general theory of ontological objects and object-relations. It does this by examining concepts as acquired dispositions, and then focuses on perhaps the most important of these: the concept of learning. This concept is important because everything that we know and do in the world is predicated on a prior act of learning. A concept can have many meanings and can be used in a number of different ways, and this creates difficulty when considering the nature of objects and the relationships between them. To enable this, David Scott answers a series of questions about concepts in general and the concept of learning in particular. Some of these questions are: What is learning? What different meanings can be given to the notion of learning? How does the concept of learning relate to other concepts, such as innatism, development and progression? The book offers a counter-argument to empiricist conceptions of learning, to the propagation of simple messages about learning, knowledge, curriculum and assessment, and to the denial that values are central to understanding how we live. It argues that values permeate everything: our descriptions of the world, the attempts we make at creating better futures and our relations with other people

Building critical reflexivity through life story work.

Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology. University of KwaZulu-Natal. Durban, 2018.This thesis investigates what happens when space is facilitated in a number of settings for the development of critical reflexivity through narrative practices and other related reflexive and dialogical methodology. In a broad sense the research examines the transformative effects of life story work and reflexivity, to track outcomes and the conditions under which they are enabled. Although there is much existing literature on reflexivity, recent research suggests that there is little consistency across educational strategies and among health professions generally. There is also a paucity of evidence-based guidance for educators, which, combined with a lack of clarity across the literature on a clearly defined conceptualisation of the term ‘reflexivity’ makes it difficult for newcomers to the field or educators across disciplines to put reflexive strategies into place. In addition there is little translation of how reflexivity, once obtained, can be translated into practice; and also in regard to its facilitation in a community context. The research aims to deconstruct ways to facilitate critical reflexivity in order to promote accessibility, transferability and evaluation. The ongoing impact of South Africa’s colonial and apartheid history has resulted in continued inequality and social divisions making it crucial for these challenges to be urgently and critically addressed. In terms of education we need to look beyond Eurocentric content knowledge and towards a critical reflection of our assumptions and long held beliefs in terms of our history, current local complexities, and future possibilities. This can be aided through the use of life stories to link new knowledge to lived experience, and to work towards building an African centred identity that embraces diversity while taking into account the rich indigenous knowledge systems that are part of this landscape. The research design is qualitative in nature and grounded in social constructionist principles applied within a narrative theory and dialogical approach. This fits well with a transformative agenda with a focus on social justice to guide the research in light of the South African context in which it is embedded. The study follows a phased and reflexive research process that explores critical reflexivity on three levels: the self in terms of personal and professional development; in education; and in community practice. The process begins with an autoethnographic study of the researcher’s experience of working with her life story and reflexivity, which is followed in the educational phase with a focus on tertiary education and tracks the experience of a number of students involved in an educational module that uses life stories to develop critical reflexivity in health promotion. In the final phase, the researcher applies this work in community practice with refugee youth from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, living in Durban, South Africa. A Critical Reflexive Model is used and developed as a conceptual framework throughout the research, and is examined in the final chapter as a theory of change that guides the development of reflexivity and is assessed for its value in taking this work forward in an accessible way. The results of the research show not only the transformative benefits of developing critical reflexivity through life story work in terms of self, relational, and contextual development but also the complexity of, and shortcomings in, evaluating a reflexive programme or intervention. Using the results of the data and the Critical Reflexive Model the researcher develops a comprehensive guide to evaluating such programmes and also to assess the benefits for participants, using Blooms Revised Taxonomy as an educational foundation to guide the process. The researcher concludes that the Critical Reflexive Model, together with the evaluation guide and life story methodology examined in this research, offers an accessible and beneficial ‘reflexive package’ or guide to educators or professionals wanting to develop critical reflexivity, whether as educators with students across disciplines as an important aspect of developing reflexive practitioners, or as part of their community practice

On Learning: A general theory of objects and object-relations

This is a philosophical work that develops a general theory of ontological objects and object-relations. It does this by examining concepts as acquired dispositions, and then focuses on perhaps the most important of these: the concept of learning. This concept is important because everything that we know and do in the world is predicated on a prior act of learning. A concept can have many meanings and can be used in a number of different ways, and this creates difficulty when considering the nature of objects and the relationships between them. To enable this, David Scott answers a series of questions about concepts in general and the concept of learning in particular. Some of these questions are: What is learning? What different meanings can be given to the notion of learning? How does the concept of learning relate to other concepts, such as innatism, development and progression? The book offers a counter-argument to empiricist conceptions of learning, to the propagation of simple messages about learning, knowledge, curriculum and assessment, and to the denial that values are central to understanding how we live. It argues that values permeate everything: our descriptions of the world, the attempts we make at creating better futures and our relations with other people