A reality check: teaching practices in Fijian secondary schools

This interpretive study of teaching practices explored the perceptions of teachers in a changing landscape in secondary schools in Fiji. Research participants engaged in focus group interviews in which they shared their teaching stories. The study found that the key issues for teachers were student-centered learning and continuous assessment. It also found that teachers were skilled and knowledgeable in pedagogy however some of their teaching practices are ineffective. It is contended that this situation is the result of inadequate support systems for teachers and in turn is perpetuating protracted change in the education system. Suggestions for teachers to develop adaptive and innovative skills that enable them to meet the changing role of teaching include a range of initiatives related to continuous professional development

International collaborative follow - up investigation of graduating high school students’ understandings of the nature of scientific inquiry: is progress Being made?

Understandings of the nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI), as opposed to engaging students in inquiry learning experiences, are included in science education reform documents around the world. However, little is known about what students have learned about NOSI during their pre-college school years. The purpose of this large-scale follow-up international project (i.e. 32 countries and regions, spanning six continents and including 3917 students for the high school sample) was to collect data on what exiting high school students have learned about NOSI. Additionally, the study investigated changes in 12th grade students’ NOSI understandings compared to seventh grade (i.e. 20 countries and regions) students’ understandings from a prior investigation [Lederman et al. (2019). An international collaborative investigation of beginning seventh grade students’ understandings of scientific inquiry: Establishing a baseline. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 56(4), 486–515. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21512]. This study documents and discusses graduating high school students’ understandings and compares their understandings to seventh grade students’ understandings of the same aspects of scientific inquiry for each country. It is important to note that collecting data from each of the 130+ countries globally was not feasible. Similarly, it was not possible to collect data from every region of each country. A concerted effort was made, however, to provide a relatively representative picture of each country and the world