Becoming a special educator – Finnish and Swedish students' views of their future profession

Peer reviewe

The application of operant conditioning techniques in a secondary school classroom

The effects of teacher praise and disapproval on two target behaviors, inappropriate talking and turning around, were investigated in a high school English class of 25 students. The contingencies were applied to all students in the experimental class utilizing a multiple baseline experimental design in which the contingencies were aimed first at decreasing inappropriate talking behavior and then at decreasing inappropriate turning behavior. Observations were made of both student and teacher behavior. The results demonstrated that the combination of disapproval for the target behaviors and praise for appropriate, incompatible behaviors substantially reduced the incidence of the target behaviors in the experimental class. Observations of these behaviors in a control class of 26 students taught by the same teacher revealed no particular changes. The findings emphasize the importance of teacher-supplied social contingencies at the secondary school level

Co-Teaching Versus Apprentice Teaching: An Analysis of Similarities and Differences

Although the term co-teaching has for many years described a service delivery option for students with disabilities or other special needs, recently, it has been used as a label for an alternative approach to student teaching. In this article, the authors describe the essential characteristics of co-teaching and what is appropriately called apprentice teaching and outline the similarities and differences between these two collaborative practices, including overall program structure, the contributing characteristics of the participating individuals, and the nature of the professional relationships. The authors provide conclusions regarding the risks for teacher candidates and faculty members of using the same term for significantly different models