Multi-grade teaching practices in Austrian and Finnish primary schools

This article describes the teaching strategies used in multi-grade classes in five small rural primary schools in Austria and Finland on the basis of the content analysis of transcribed teacher interviews. Two main types of strategies were identified: practices that (1) aim to reduce or (2) capitalize on students’ heterogeneity. The results illustrate how differently multi-grade teaching can be realized and how it can effectively support individual student learning. The findings are discussed with regard to teacher education with the intention of increasing the awareness of the professional skills required in high-quality teaching practices in multi-grade teaching

School as Narrated Places : Children´s Narratives of School Enjoyment

Acknowledgments This research was supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF): M 1377-G17 (Hyry-Beihammer) and in part by Thule Institute, University of Oulu (Autti).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Master-apprentice relation in music teaching. From a secret garden to a transparent modelling

This article aims to consider a master-apprentice relation in music teaching, especially in piano teaching. The article focuses on the teaching of a well known Finnish music pedagogue and artist, Matti Raekallio. Most of the data was collected by observing his piano lessons and by interviewing both Raekallio and his students. It has been analysed using both content analysis and narrative analysis. The results confirmed a typical ‘master teacher’ model in which the focus is on the musical score. In contrast to some views of the master teacher model, the teacher in this research seems ’in the same boat’ as his students rather than taking a master’s ‘authoritative role.’ The teacher adjusts his teaching to suit the needs of different students and their different stages of competence. The students are taught knowledge and skills but also guided into the culture and practice of the field. Keywords: master-apprentice relationship, music teaching, narrative inquiry, teacher-student relationshi

Pedagogy in small primary schools – The value of multi-grade teaching

This paper aims to understand the value of pedagogy of small schools in Austria and Finland. In this paper, a small school is defined as a school with fewer than fifty students. Usually it is a village primary school (in an Austrian context grades 1–4, children aged between six to nine, called Volksschule; in a Finnish context grades 1–6, children aged between seven to twelve). Small schools locate usually also in a rural area. Typically there are two or three teachers teaching different grades in the same class; this is called multi-grade or multi-age teaching. In the school year 2009–2010 there were 1,909 multi-grade classes in Austria and 722 small schools in Finland. During the last twenty years, the number of small Finnish primary schools has decreased by 65%. Besides in Austria and Finland, small schools are under the threat of closure in many other European countries. Closures of small schools are often explained by economic reasons: small schools are too expensive, and it is cost-effective to transport children from villages to bigger centre schools (see, e.g., Knauf, 2010, p. 162). It seems that the significance and possibilities of pedagogy in small schools have been ignored when schools are closed. Our study asks, which advantages and challenges does multi-grade teaching have to school education? This is answered by analyzing different teaching practices that are used in multi-grade classes. As empirical data is used ten narrative teacher interviews (Riessman 2008) and teaching observations that have been collected in four small primary schools in Austria and Finland during 2011–2012. On the basis of the content analysis of transcribed teacher interviews and teaching observation, the multi-age group processes and social forms that are used in multi-grade teaching are explored. The main categories “split timetable” and “common timetable” are used to analyze how teachers share time between different grades during teaching and how students in each grade may study the same subject at the same time (Cornish, 2006). The main categories, “whole-class teaching,” “within-grade grouping,” “cross-grade grouping” (different grades in the group), and “free choice group” are used to analyze how students are grouped during teaching (Cornish, 2006; Petersen, 1927/2001). Of special interest is how teachers use differentiation in their teaching in multi-grade classes, and therefore “differentiation” has been chosen as a main category, too. The educational forms of play, work, and celebration suggested by Petersen (1927/2001) are also analyzed in the data of this study. We are especially interested in the natural processes of helping and being helped in multi-age groups defined by Petersen (1927/2001); more specifically, we are interested co-operation or peer learning or peer tutoring. The processes of co-operation in multi-age classes are explored also through Lev Vygotskij’s (2002) socio-cultural learning theory. Based on the first research results, it is clear that diverse teaching practices are used in the multi-grade classes in small schools. The results show that teachers find one of their most important and challenging tasks how to answer the needs of different learners in their classes. Expert teachers tend to work like multi-age teachers, looking at each student as an individual and orienting their teaching according to each individual’s needs. This becomes apparent from the different forms of differentiation teachers used. Younger teachers in particular express uncertainty about how to divide their time and how to use different forms of student groups in a multi-grade class in order to enhance learning in the best possible way. One method is to use “subject staggering;” which is teaching two different subjects concurrently, concentrating on “important concepts” by teaching one grade while the other grade works silently. According to research results, peer tutoring and learning occur spontaneously at classroom but teachers can use peer tutoring also as an intentional teaching strategy. Peer learning happens also tacitly, e.g. students in lower grade learn the common practices of the school from upper grade students. Teachers find that this type of student helping decreases their work, too. In the teachers’ narratives, the schoolyard seemed to be a central place where pupils play and take part in activities with other pupils and also with teachers. In particular, play and festivals are educational forms that are connected to situations when the whole school participates and the events occur mostly outside of the classroom. The research results challenges teacher education: On the basis of the data, teacher education students have had only a little or not at all instruction concerning teaching in multi-grade groups, so we can expect that those teaching skills are mostly learned through practice. We suggest that teacher educators and researchers should become more aware of good teaching practices in multi-grade teaching like differentiation and multi-age teaching. That would add our understanding of the qualities and prerequisites for good teaching in heterogeneous student groups

Multigrade teaching in primary education as a promising pedagogy for teacher education in Austria and Finland

This chapter focuses on teaching practices used in multigrade classes and the importance of them being incorporated in teacher education as promising pedagogies for future use. Multigrade classes - defined as classes in which two or more grades are taught together - are common worldwide. Hence, there is a need for teacher candidates to become familiar with how to teach in split grade classrooms. However, research on multigrade teaching as well as its development in teacher education studies has been neglected, even though multigrade teachers need special skills to organize instruction in their heterogeneous classrooms. We argue that in successful multigrade teaching practices, the heterogeneity of students is taken into account and cultivated. Based on content analysis of teacher interviews conducted in Austrian and Finnish primary schools, we recommend teaching practices such as spiral curricula, working plans, and peer learning as promising teacher education pedagogies for future multigrade class teaching. We also suggest that the professional skills required in high-quality teaching practices in multigrade teaching should be further studied by researchers and educators

Moral imagination in student teachers’ written stories on an ethical dilemma

Abstract This article explores how student teachers use moral imagination when writing about an ethical dilemma. Moral imagination refers to the ability to consider a situation from a distance and to understand different perspectives through imagination. An ethical dilemma was presented in the form of a framing story, which the participating Austrian and Finnish student teachers continued writing as they chose. Through positioning and narrative analyses, we uncovered how the students’ moral imagination on the ethical dilemma centred on one or more of the following foci: (1) the pupil, (2) themselves as teachers or (3) other actors. This moral imagination manifested through different storylines. The implications of these results and the relevance of the method for teacher education are discussed