Knowledge selection in initial teacher education programmes and its implications for curricular coherence

AbstractThere are a multitude of concepts and techniques that could be important for teachers tolearn during their initial teacher education (ITE), but indiscriminately including all of themwould result in an overcrowded and fragmented curriculum. Given the limited time for ITE,rational knowledge selection choices must be made if coherent programmes are to beoffered to prospective teachers. This paper explores the approaches taken to addressing thecritical challenges facing education in South Africa and the principles from knowledgeselection that arise from these approaches. Different conceptions about how best to addressthese challenges offer directed priorities to guide knowledge selection decisions for ITEcurricula. Examples of knowledge selection principles that variously promote conceptual orcontextual coherence are presented and analysed, and tradeoffs associated with each one areconsidered. Although some recontextualising principles are mutually incompatiable, othershave the potential to coexist. In a four-year qualification, where sequencing choices can bemade, there exists the possibility of introducing different principles at different timeswithout unduly compromising internal coherence. A challenge for those who design ITEcurricula is to design conceptually coherent and/or contextually responsive curricula fullyaware of the affordances and limitations offered by different recontextualising principle

Making conceptual connections visible to students in professional programmes: The case of initial teacher education

This paper presents a comparative analysis of education courses offered across five South African universities participating in the Initial Teacher Education Research Project. The analysis compares knowledge selected for compulsory education modules that are taken by all student teachers regardless of their subject / phase specializations. All programmes include modules that examine curriculum knowledge, learners, pedagogy and context as objects of study in their own right. However, these objects are studied through different practical and/or theoretical lenses. The extent to which each object is brought into relation with others is also variable and programme design structures suggest that these relationships will be explored in specialization courses. However, it should not be presumed that this will happen without explicit collaboration and coordination. It is recommended that the relations between the elements need explicitly to be designed into the compulsory courses, subject/phase specific pedagogy courses and in the design of the practicum

Summative assessment of student teaching: a proposed approach for quantifying practice

A pass mark in a teaching practice module is a convenient way for universities to signalconfidence in students’ beginning teaching competence. However, assigning marks forteaching competence is a fraught undertaking if marks are to be standardised acrossdifferent assessors and reflect teaching as a complex, coherent practice. This paper analysesreports written by university tutors justifying the marks awarded to a cohort of final-yearstudent teachers for their teaching practice. The analysis shows that marks reflect aninterplay between the students’ pedagogical thinking (evident in the rationale for theirlesson design and written and verbal reflections on their teaching), and their ability todeliver lessons effectively (from direct observation of their teaching). This findingprompted the development of a Summative Teaching Practice Assessment Rubric whichconsiders both the cognitive and performance dimensions of student teaching. It potentiallyenables a more coherent, holistic summative assessment of student teaching than had beenpossible using lists of isolated criteria or general impressions of competenc

What messages about teacher professionalism are transmitted through South African pre-service teacher education programmes?

Promoting teacher professionalism is regarded as a strategy to address the disparate quality of learning in South African classrooms. Through a qualitative analysis of initial teacher education (ITE) programmes offered by five universities, this paper analyses the messages of teacher professionalism transmitted to pre-service teachers. Findings show that professionalism in teaching is variously conveyed to pre-service teachers as being located in their personal appearance and attributes; within their personal morals and shared ethical imperatives; in the kinds of workplace relationships they build, and in their use of formal knowledge for reasoned judgment in practice. The Specialisation Dimension of Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) (Maton, 2014) is used to show that when teacher professionalism is presented as highly individualised traits, the possibilities of developing shared knowledge-based teaching practices is reduced, and the importance of conceptually-informed judgments is obscured. This shuts down possibilities for systemic improvement. Conversely, if teacher professionalism is primarily located in what teachers know and can do with that knowledge, the social, moral and affective dimensions of teaching are underemphasised. Ideally, approaches to teacher professionalism ought to introduce students to teaching as a communally-owned practice, based on shared knowledge that enables reasoned judgment. The paper draws on the conceptual tools offered by LCT to suggest how social and epistemic relations can be weakened and strengthened to enhance the construct of teacher professionalism offered to prospective teachers through their ITE programmes.Keywords: learning to teach; Legitimation Code Theory; professional; professionalisation; teacher education; teacher knowledge; teacher professionalis

Approaches to assessing preservice teachers’ learning in authentic and rigorous ways: The case of an inclusive education module

Initial teacher education programmes offer inclusive education modules that seek to prepare teachers for teaching diverse learners. While there is growing research on the content and pedagogy of inclusive education modules, relatively less attention has been given to the assessment of these modules. This paper focuses on the challenges of promoting authenticity, academic depth and rigour in inclusive education through assessment tasks. Drawing on Cochran-Smith and Lytle’s (1999) concepts of knowledge for-, in- and of- practice in education, we critically reflect on three approaches used to assess an inclusive education course over a number of years. The first approach required pre-service teachers to articulate their understanding of important concepts associated with inclusive education, the second required them to provide evidence of their ability to use inclusive strategies, while the third approach provided opportunities for them to participate in a research project about inclusionary and exclusionary practices in schools. We find that these approaches represent inclusive education knowledge with different degrees of conceptual integrity and provide opportunities for pre-service teachers to participate in authentic academic and professional practices to different extents. We conclude by suggesting how the assessment of inclusive education can be approached so that neither academic rigour nor authenticity is compromised

Knowledge and judgement for assessing student teaching: a cross-institutional analysis of teaching practicum assessment instruments

AbstractTeaching practicum (TP) assessment instruments provide insight into the nature of theknowledge that the university expects university-appointed tutors and school-basedsupervising teachers to have in order to make fair judgements about a student’s teachingcompetence. This paper presents a comparative analysis of the TP assessment instrumentsused during 2012 by five South African universities offering initial teacher education. Itdescribes the grounds upon which the comparative analysis was done, and offers aqualitative analysis of the knowledge base that the assessors of student teaching areassumed to have. We find that the structure and criteria of some TP assessment instrumentstend to construct the assessment of student teaching as straight-forward exercise inverifying that certain technical requirements are met. In contrast, we show how others usestructure and criteria potentially to enable a more professionally based judgement of thecompetence of student teachin

'Learning to teach' : developmental teaching patterns of student teachers.

The process of ‘learning to teach’ is still not well understood. In particular, existing research does not fully reflect the complexities of the process; how student teachers’ level of subject matter knowledge influences their teaching, or how their placement affects the process. This study provides an alternative nonlinear, relational model for understanding the process of ‘learning to teach’. I study the ways in which 66 BEd students teach during eight school-based Teaching Experience sessions, conducted over the four year duration of their preservice teaching degree. I primarily draw on evidence obtained from lesson observation reports written by university tutors as they respond to lessons taught by this cohort of student teachers. I cluster their comments into five facets necessary for enabling learning, namely, student teachers’ knowledge and understanding of content; their preparation; their teaching strategies; their classroom management; and the ways in which they monitor learning. These five facets have links to the process of teaching described by Shulman’s (1987b) Model of Pedagogical Reasoning and Action. Within each of these five facets, varying levels of competence were demonstrated by the student teachers in this study. I develop an analytical tool that describes four developmental levels of student teaching over each of the five facets of the teaching process. An in-depth study of the developmental teaching portraits of five student teachers illustrates that they are often more advanced in some facets of their teaching, and less so in others. The portraits highlight the ways in which certain facets affect teaching in other facets. The interactions between these differing levels and facets give rise to particular challenges that student teachers experience as they ‘learn to teach’. Some of these challenges are more significant than others, as certain inter-facet relationships are essential to the development of pedagogically reasoned action, and other relationships are less crucial. My findings suggest that although ‘learning to teach’ is a non-linear process, there nevertheless exists a logical hierarchy within the facets, whereby some facets create conditions of possibility for others. In particular, I find that the way in which student teachers use their knowledge and understanding of the content to inform other facets, establishes the 2 logical conditions necessary for the development of teaching as pedagogically reasoned action

The complexities of learning to teach: Advancing the debates

Editoria

Why academic depth and rigour in university-based coursework matters for prospective teachers

From text: Initial teacher education (ITE) programmes are expected to prepare teachers who have the capacity to develop conceptually strong, responsive and inclusive teaching practices. The extent to which ITE programmes have been successful in this endeavour has been questioned both internationally (e.g. Lancaster & Auhl, 2013) and within the South African context (Council on Higher Education [CHE], 2010). In retrospect, it is not surprising that the review of initial teacher education (ITE) programmes conducted by the CHE between 2005 and 2007 found that the sector was experiencing tension between “the theoretical and conceptual rigour expected of a professional degree and the vocation-specific training of teachers” for classroom readiness (CHE, 2010: 103)