Geography mentors’ written lesson observation feedback during initial teacher education

This paper explores geography mentors’ written lesson observation feedback by analysing data from across a one-year Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme delivered through a university-school partnership in England, asking two main questions: in what ways is geography/geographical knowledge discussed in written lesson observation feedback given to beginning geography teachers? In what ways does research feature in the written lesson observation feedback given to beginning geography teachers? The paper offers one response to calls from geography education researchers for greater attention to be given to subject-specific issues in lesson feedback during ITE, set within wider discourses around research-engagement. The argument is made through empirical evidence suggesting an absence of explicit engagement with research in written lesson observation feedback, a position in principle for increasing the interactions between research and practice in teacher education, and analysis of the specific areas highlighted in the written lesson observation feedback. Suggestions are made for improving the attention given to geography and research evidence in lesson feedback, and to support these aims three possible priority areas for geography education research are offered: progress; explanation; and terminology

Resilience, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and anger: A linguistic inquiry into the psychological processes associated with resilience in secondary school STEM learning.

AIM: To examine resilience in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning within an ecological model, identifying the psychological processes associated with resilient, and non-resilient learning to develop a framework for promoting STEM resilience. SAMPLE AND METHOD: From a sample of secondary-school students (n = 4,936), 1,577 students who found their STEM lesson difficult were identified. Students were assessed on three resilience capabilities and asked to write a commentary on how they responded to the lesson. RESULTS: Factor analysis revealed that resilience in STEM learning could be positioned within the ecological systems model, with students' resilience being comprised of three capabilities; the ability to quickly and easily recover (Recovery), remain focussed on goals (Ecological), and naturally adjust (Adaptive capacity). Using a linguistic analysis programme, we identified the prevalence of words within the student commentaries which related to seven psychological processes. Greater ability to recover was negatively related to negative emotional processes. To increase the specificity of this relationship, we identified high and low resilient students and compared their commentaries. Low resilient students used significantly more anger words. Qualitative analysis revealed interpersonal sources of anger (anger at teacher due to lack of support) and intrapersonal sources of anger (including rumination, expression and control, and seeking distraction). CONCLUSIONS: Anger is a key process that distinguishes students who struggle to recover from a difficult STEM lesson. An ecological systems model may prove useful for understanding STEM resilience and developing intervention pathways. Implications for teacher education include the importance of students' perceptions of teacher support

Resilience, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and anger: A linguistic inquiry into the psychological processes associated with resilience in secondary school STEM learning

Aim: To examine resilience in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning within an ecological model, identifying the psychological processes associated with resilient, and non-resilient learning to develop a framework for promoting STEM resilience. Sample and method: From a sample of secondary-school students (n = 4,936), 1,577 students who found their STEM lesson difficult were identified. Students were assessed on three resilience capabilities and asked to write a commentary on how they responded to the lesson. Results: Factor analysis revealed that resilience in STEM learning could be positioned within the ecological systems model, with students’ resilience being comprised of three capabilities; the ability to quickly and easily recover (Recovery), remain focussed on goals (Ecological), and naturally adjust (Adaptive capacity). Using a linguistic analysis programme, we identified the prevalence of words within the student commentaries which related to seven psychological processes. Greater ability to recover was negatively related to negative emotional processes. To increase the specificity of this relationship, we identified high and low resilient students and compared their commentaries. Low resilient students used significantly more anger words. Qualitative analysis revealed interpersonal sources of anger (anger at teacher due to lack of support) and intrapersonal sources of anger (including rumination, expression and control, and seeking distraction). Conclusions: Anger is a key process that distinguishes students who struggle to recover from a difficult STEM lesson. An ecological systems model may prove useful for understanding STEM resilience and developing intervention pathways. Implications for teacher education include the importance of students’ perceptions of teacher support

Resilience, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and anger: A linguistic inquiry into the psychological processes associated with resilience in secondary school STEM learning.

AIM: To examine resilience in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning within an ecological model, identifying the psychological processes associated with resilient, and non-resilient learning to develop a framework for promoting STEM resilience. SAMPLE AND METHOD: From a sample of secondary-school students (n = 4,936), 1,577 students who found their STEM lesson difficult were identified. Students were assessed on three resilience capabilities and asked to write a commentary on how they responded to the lesson. RESULTS: Factor analysis revealed that resilience in STEM learning could be positioned within the ecological systems model, with students' resilience being comprised of three capabilities; the ability to quickly and easily recover (Recovery), remain focussed on goals (Ecological), and naturally adjust (Adaptive capacity). Using a linguistic analysis programme, we identified the prevalence of words within the student commentaries which related to seven psychological processes. Greater ability to recover was negatively related to negative emotional processes. To increase the specificity of this relationship, we identified high and low resilient students and compared their commentaries. Low resilient students used significantly more anger words. Qualitative analysis revealed interpersonal sources of anger (anger at teacher due to lack of support) and intrapersonal sources of anger (including rumination, expression and control, and seeking distraction). CONCLUSIONS: Anger is a key process that distinguishes students who struggle to recover from a difficult STEM lesson. An ecological systems model may prove useful for understanding STEM resilience and developing intervention pathways. Implications for teacher education include the importance of students' perceptions of teacher support

Chief examiners as Prophet and Priest: relations between examination boards and school subjects, and possible implications for knowledge

Evidence from an ethnographic study of three secondary school geography departments in England is drawn on to describe aspects of the relationships between examination boards and school subjects. This paper focuses on one department, in ‘Town Comprehensive’, and the argument is illustrated through a discussion of observed lessons with a teacher in this department. Ofqual (Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation) have recently announced that examination boards may continue to endorse commercially available teaching resources. The argument presented in this paper extends possible areas of ‘risk’ identified beyond those they currently consider. Specifically, it is argued that chief examiners play multiple roles in the recontextualisation of knowledge, holding substantial power over school subjects. The strong role of accreditation as a rationale is argued to restrict knowledge taught in school geography to horizontal discourses, limiting students’ access to powerful knowledge

An analysis of individual and departmental geographical stories, and their role in sustaining teachers

Teaching can be a hard job, and sustaining teachers throughout their career can be a challenge, facing pressure from performativity, increasing accountability, and increases in teacher workload. Geographical stories offer an important source of inspiration, helping to sustain teachers. Findings are presented from an ethnographic study of secondary school geography departments in England. Every teacher in these departments told compelling stories about their personal histories that have led them to being a geography teacher. The areas of subject specialism they claim are not arbitrary, but are often described through narratives in which events from childhood, schooling, and university are re-told, emphasising their long-standing acquaintance with, and passion for certain geographical issues. Departmental organisational types are discussed, and significant differences between departments are highlighted. Within departments, teachers’ individual geographical stories may be re-told to construct collective narratives. These departmental, collective stories position teachers in relation to one another, and offer a further dimension of support for teachers’ identity and status. Further research – particularly longitudinal studies – is suggested as one way of developing understandings about the ways in which teachers' individual stories might be re-told in dialogue with the collective stories told by their departments. Implications for initial teacher education include increasing beginning teachers’ awareness of the distinctiveness of departments, and tailoring developmental work with them to take more explicit account of the specific contexts in which they are learning to teach

Geography teachersâ subject knowledge: an ethnographic study of three secondary school geography departments

This thesis explores geography teachersâ subject knowledge, contributing a detailed empirical study to the geography education research knowledge debate. School geography has been criticised for holding an out-dated, objectivist view of knowledge, which is widely attributed to its disconnection from academic geography. Conceptualising school geography using Bernsteinâs (2000) pedagogic device, this thesis applies a distinction between the ORF (official recontextualising field) and the PRF (pedagogic recontextualising field), or between curriculum as intention and reality (Stenhouse, 1975). Existing critiques are reframed, and teachersâ role as recontextualisers of knowledge is examined through an ethnographic study of three secondary school geography departments. A model of degrees of recontextualisation is presented, describing how teachers transform knowledge into the content of school geography lessons. Existing accounts of teachersâ conceptions of geography are developed through analysis of knowledge structures, knower structures, and the legitimation of knowledge claims. The role of perception, deductive reason, and testimony in the legitimation of knowledge claims is considered. I argue that these teachers describe geography as primarily based on empirical evidence: knowledge legitimated through perception (âactually seeingâ). Deductive reason is used frequently by teachers, and tensions between deductive reason and perception are explored. Testimony was found to rarely be acknowledged as a source of knowledge, however, data generated in these departments suggest that it plays an significant role. Problematic aspects of testimonial knowledge are critically explored, and particular attention is given to the multiple, powerful roles played by chief examiners in the construction of school geography. I suggest that existing arrangements between examination boards and school subjects, and the importance given to accreditation may limit the extent to which students are given access to powerful knowledge. Differences found between departments make similarities striking, including: a common, high use of Google searches; uses of Virtual Shared Areas (VSAs); and differentiation between control of the curriculum at different Key Stages (KS), with the PRF dominant at KS3 (most departments are argued to largely ignore the National Curriculum, or reduce it to an auditing role), and the ORF dominant at KS4/5 (through the heavily regulative function of examination boards). An argument is made for developing more geographical research on geography education, through a model of teachers participating in such geographical research in order to develop their disciplined judgement.</p