CoRe: A way to build pedagogical content knowledge for beginning teachers

Research has shown that one of the factors which enables teachers to be effective is their rich pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Beginning teachers need support to develop this PCK and recent research in the field has proposed a conceptual tool known as “content representations”, or CoRes, as a model for doing this. The study reported here brought together science and technology experts in content and pedagogy, early career secondary teachers, and researchers to design a CoRe to assist development of teacher PCK. The study then researched the early career teachers’ use of the CoRe in their planning and delivery of a unit in their classrooms to examine the effect of the CoRe on teaching and learning, and on the development of the teachers’ PCK

Using an extended food metaphor to explain concepts about pedagogy

It is anathema for educators to describe pedagogy as having a recipe - it is tantamount to saying it is a technicist process rather than a professional one requiring active, informed decision-making. But if we are to help novice teachers understand what pedagogy is and how it can be understood, there must be a starting point for pedagogical knowledge to shape both the understanding and design of appropriate curriculum learning. In order to address this challenge, I argue that food preparation processes and learning how to competently cook are analogous to understanding how pedagogy - also about process, design, and making knowledge knowable - facilitates learning about teaching specific curriculum knowledge. To do so, I use evidence from an ITE cohort lecture on pedagogy as a case study. In essence, viewing pedagogy through the lens of food and recipes may help make some abstractions of pedagogy more concrete and make some principles of pedagogy more accessible to novice teachers as they learn to design learning

Becoming a teacher educator : guidelines for induction : 2nd edition

The first edition of these guidelines was published in 2007. Since that date it has been used to support the induction of new teacher educators in the UK and beyond. The guidelines and the research which underpinned them also won the Sage BERA Practitioner Research Prize in 2009. But change in the higher education sector and in the field of teacher education mean that the time is now right for a second edition. This new edition has been revised in four main ways. Firstly, a considerable body of published international research focused on teacher educators has been produced since 2007 and the revised guidelines are informed by this work. Secondly, the new guidelines include the ‘voices’ of new teacher educators themselves gathered during our regular workshops for new teacher educators and our research projects. Thirdly, the revised edition aims to be more inclusive of all teacher educators, including those in further education. In terms of this latter group, it is informed by the limited literature available and our own research into the experiences of those teaching higher education programmes in further education colleges. Finally, the new guidelines seek to respond in a measured way to changing policy and contextual frameworks. These include the continued intensification and increasing fragmentation of academic work and identity in the higher education sector; and the wider questioning of the contribution of higher education to professional education for teachers

Using Technology to Develop Preservice Teachers\u27 Reflective Thinking

Developing high-level reflection skills proves troublesome for some preservice teachers. To examine the potential of an online environment for increasing productive reflection, students in three sequential undergraduate education classes responded to regular online prompts. We coded student comments for productive and unproductive reflection, knowledge integration, and analysis of the four aspects of teaching (learners and learning, subject matter knowledge, assessment and instruction ) as described by Davis, Bain, & Harrington (2001). We adapted a scoring approach recommended by Davis & Linn, (2000); Davis (2003) to analyze what aspects of teaching preservice teachers included, emphasized, and integrated when they reflected on their own beliefs about teaching. Discussion examines the utility of online environments for producing productive preservice teacher reflection

Seeing is believing: primary generalist pre-service teachers’ observations of physical education lessons in Ireland and Switzerland.

Primary generalist pre-service teachers (PSTs) rarely have opportunity to observe teachers teaching authentic physical education lessons let alone reflect with the teachers, their lecturer or their peers following the lesson. Observation of, and reflection on, quality lessons can have a powerful influence on shaping the PSTs’ soon-to-be-teachers’ professional identities and can also help them to develop reflective and critical thinking skills. A qualitative framework utilising critical incidents, described as ‘events identified by student teachers as significant in making progress toward becoming a better teacher’ (Schempp, 1985: p.159) guided the PSTs’ observations in this study. One primary physical education initial teacher educator (PEITE) and four PSTs, from Ireland, participated in the study and data comprised of a planning discussion, 40 critical incident observations of ten lessons in two European countries and two reflective discussions. Each set of observations was followed by a group discussion to provide opportunity for reflection-on-action (Schön, 1983). Examination of the data showed that PSTs extended their understanding of professional practice in: questioning and demonstrating; inclusion; organisation and management; and feedback and were surprised that practice in both countries was more similar than different. Critical incidents were a useful method of focusing reflections for the PSTs and the opportunity to engage in the process of observing, and reflecting on, quality lessons impacted the PSTs’ perceptions towards becoming better teachers. Keywords: Critical incidents; reflection

Enhancing teacher education practice through professional learning conversations

The paper discusses the value of peer observation followed by professional learning conversations for the professional development of teacher educators. The authors analyse their shared learning experiences and articulate what challenged them in these experiences. They discuss the ways in which their perceptions of this process differed or were similar. The grounding of the experience in a context of trust and professional relationship was seen as an essential part of the learning process. The authors highlight the importance of the cognitive-emotional and personal-professional aspects of teacher educators' lives in supporting their learning through the combination of peer observation and ongoing professional learning conversations. © 2008 Association for Teacher Education in Europe

What Counts as Best Practice Teaching for Teacher Educators: Theory and Practice

The aim of this essay is to operationalize best practice in teaching, what it is, what it constitutes and the kind of knowledge teacher educators need in order to become best practitioners. This is because some authors often use the phrase ‘best practices’ whenever debating about what teachers should portray in view of preparing teacher trainees for the teaching profession . What always occupies my mind, however, is not only the exploit of the phrase, but also the way different educational researchers even go ahead to suggest the benefits of best practices in teacher education without unpacking the phrase itself. My argument here is that not until teachers as practitioners re-define the scope of teaching in view of best practice, it might continue posing challenges for novice teachers to know the kind of knowledge they need to posses if they are to showcase best practices in teaching

Becoming a teacher educator: Evidence from the field

This article makes a contribution to understanding the challenges new teacher educators face in establishing their professional identities in Higher Education. The data collected for the study allowed the researchers to analyse the tensions and conflicts arising for 28 teacher educators in their first 3 years of working on Initial Teacher Education (ITE) courses in England. The findings of the study show that, despite having previous successful careers in school teaching, the majority of the interviewees took between 2 and 3 years to establish their new professional identities. They faced challenges in two key areas-developing a pedagogy for HE-based ITE work and becoming research active. Meeting both of these challenges required significant adaptations to their previous identities as schoolteachers. © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Kaldor primary public art project: Working with contemporary public art and teachers through the e5 instructional model

This paper discusses the Kaldor Primary Public Art Project that was conceived and enacted during the late 2009 and first half of 2010, where the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (Victoria, Australia) worked in collaboration with Kaldor Public Art Projects.The concept of this project was developed by Kaldor Public Art Projects, a not-for-profit organisation that has pioneered the presentation of influential art projects in Australia. These projects have changed and shaped Australians’ perceptions and appreciation of contemporary art through the support and development of individual artists. The project aim was to build teacher capacity in using contemporary visual art in primary arts programs. The key components of the project highlighted building understanding and use of the e5 Instructional Model (Department of Education and Early Childhood., 2009); using interactive whiteboards as an instructional tool; and developing a resource for primary teachers that aligns with the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, State Government of Victoria , 2009). This paper reflects the experiences of the ten teachers from Victorian government and catholic schools involved in the project. Throughout particular focus is made to honouring the voice of the teachers and students who experienced the contemporary public art units and lesson sequences using the e5 Instructional Model. Acknowledgement of the varied experiences prior and through the project is made to areas of visual arts program in schools and involvement in contemporary arts practice to highlight visual arts teachers' professional development and formation of a community