Designed-in and contingent scaffolding in the Teaching Practice Groups model

The focus of this paper is the teacher learning of trainee teachers of English as a second, other or foreign language to adults, within a particular model of initial teacher training: Teaching Practice Groups. It draws on socio-constructive theories of teacher learning to explore the learning of trainees within the model. Teaching Practice Groups are highly social; trainees on courses using the model interact a great deal with each other, with their peers, with the learners in the teaching practice classroom, and also with the course documentation and activities. This paper suggests that these interactions, and the consequent development of trainees’ knowledge and understanding of teaching, are scaffolded in both ‘designed-in’ and ‘contingent’ ways (Hammond Gibbons 2005: 12). Designed-in scaffolding can be seen in the way the course is structured, in the activities that learners are expected to engage with, and in the documents and processes through which these processes are managed. Contingent scaffolding on the other hand, the spontaneous actions and guidance of the trainer in response to the immediate learning needs of the trainee teacher, is unplanned. While the findings from this study are specific to the context of Teaching Practice Groups, this paper also offers a contribution to more general knowledge about initial teacher training for English language teachers

Teaching Practice Groups: a case study of social constructive learning

The focus of this thesis is the teacher learning of trainee teachers of English as a second, other or foreign language to adults, within a particular model of initial teacher training: Teaching Practice Groups. It contributes to knowledge in the field by centering on the mechanisms by which the Teaching Practice Group model supports prospective English language teachers in learning to teach. To do so it draws on sodio-construcivist and cognitive theories of teacher learning to explore the learning of trainees within the model, through their interaction with their fellow trainees, the trainers, and the activities of the course. It suggests that within the Teaching Practice Group model the classroom is both the focus and the place of learning about how to teach. The Teaching Practice Group model provides contextually meaningful experiences for trainees, engaging them in situational decision-making, both in advance of teaching in the form of lesson planning, and on their feet in front of a group of learners. The study identifies ways in which both subjective and objective understandings of knowledge impact on the judgments trainees make about how to act in the classroom. It shows how objective descriptions of teacher knowledge are used in order to help trainees to name elements of the teaching and learning process - the classroom and its moves, while subjective knowledge is foregrounded in the focused reflection that Teaching Practice Group model provides on the experience of teaching. The thesis uses concepts from social constructivist theories of learning. Teaching Practice Groups are highly social; trainees on courses using the model interact a great deal with each other, with their peers, with the learners in the teaching practice classroom, and also with the course documentation and activities. I suggest that the development of trainees’ knowledge and understanding of teaching within the model is highly scaffolded, allowing trainers to progress trainees’ attention beyond their own actions, to the learners and their learning. The teacher learning examined in this thesis is driven by engagement with concepts of teaching and learning, with other players (peers, students and trainers), in the specific cultural environment of the shared language classroom

O quadro europeu de boas práticas de literacia

Neste artigo, introduzo um Quadro de Referência de Boas Práticas desenvolvidopela Rede Europeia de Políticas de Literacia (ELINET) financiada pela Comissão Europeia. O quadro aborda as políticas de literacia em todo o ciclo de vida, mas aqui concentro-me apenas em questões relevantes para a educação de adultos. O Quadro está organizado em três tópicos oriundos das recomendações feitas pelo Grupo de Alto Nível da União Europeia sobre literacia, em 2012: criar ambientes mais alfabetizados; melhorar a qualidade do ensino; e aumentar a participação e a inclusão

Credibility, relevance, and policy impact in the evaluation of adult basic skills programs: the case of the new opportunities initiative in Portugal

Adult basic education (ABE) policies aim to help adults improve their literacy, numeracy and information and communications technology skills, as well as their qualifications, often in pursuit of economic gains such as better employment and earnings. The large-scale improvement of skills and qualifications has been referred to as a wicked policy problem, suggesting that it is extremely difficult and perhaps even impossible to achieve success in this policy domain. Evaluations have highlighted these challenges, with many programs showing little or no impact. Between 2006 and 2012, the Portuguese government ran a large-scale adult education program, the New Opportunities Initiative (NOI), which focused on the recognition and validation of adults’ existing skills and the development of literacy and numeracy. The NOI was evaluated twice, in 2009 and in 2012. These two evaluations produced very different findings and outcomes: the first evaluation found the NOI to be a success, and led to continued investment, but the second evaluation reached more negative conclusions and was used as a rationale for de-funding the program. In this article we analyze these two sets of evaluations, investigating the reasons for their starkly different conclusions. We find that, while both evaluations had strengths, they also suffered from serious methodological and/or theoretical weaknesses. These weaknesses are part of a broader pattern of evaluation errors that characterize the field of ABE more generally and which make it more likely that ABE policies will continue to fail. Using the conflicting NOI evaluations as case studies, we offer potential solutions to ABE’s evaluation problem, emphasizing the need to collect long-term longitudinal evidence on the causal mechanisms through which policy goals may be achieved

Numeracy skills and the numerate environment: affordances and demands

In the 2012 PIAAC Survey of Adult Skills of 23 industrialised countries, the UK (England & NI) scored below average on adult numeracy. Several recommendations focus on the need for (some) individuals in the population to undergo training. Yet, even in “high-performing countries” like the Netherlands, many adults (1.5M) score at or below PIAAC Level 1 (sometimes designated as “functionally innumerate”). The question arises as to how all of these people manage in important domains of their lives. In this article we aim to consider the context of the exercise of numeracy by adults, drawing on earlier research in mathematics education. We examine a recent conception of an adult’s ‘literate environment’ (EU HLG on Literacy, 2012), and extend this to reflect on the idea of an adult’s ‘numerate environment’. We consider the range of practices that particular adults may engage in, and the demands that these may make on the adult, the affordances the practices may offer; the latter include the opportunities, and the supports and / or barriers produced within these practices, and in cultures more generally, that may foster or impede an adult’s ongoing numerate development. We give examples of each of these aspects of adults’ numerate practices, and consider implications for the teaching, learning and development of numeracy

O Ensino Médio na Educação de Jovens e Adultos : dilemas, contradições e desafios

Neste dossiê exploramos questões atuais que impactam a Educação de Jovens e Adultos no nível médio (EJA/ensino médio). Por meio de uma série de artigos de estudiosos de diversas regiões do Brasil, apresentamos importantes contribuições para melhor compreender as pressões e influências sobre o ensino médio na EJA. O dossiê está composto por dez artigos, cada um com foco e contexto distintos, abrangendo diferentes territórios formativos. Nesta apresentação do dossiê contextualizamos os artigos para os leitores e indicamos os impulsionadores das mudanças que estão sendo sentidas no chão das salas de aula nas escolas de EJA em todo o paí