128 research outputs found

    Working towards evidence based practice in science teaching and learning.

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    High performing international education systems integrate evidence based practice into their initial teacher education programmes (BERA-RSA 2014). An example of informal practitioner research is described and discussed to illustrate the value and drawbacks of this approach and how this evidence based approach might be beneficial to teaching and learning in science. A science subject knowledge module was taught to two different cohorts of intending science teachers using a Science in Society (socio-scientific) approach. The aim was to demonstrate strategies for facilitating the development of critical thinking and scientific literacy. The use of anonymous voting devices during sessions highlighted a polarisation of opinions amongst participants rather than a more considered or critical response to the scientific questions

    Can effect sizes give any clues to the way mentors ascribe numerical grades when assessing secondary trainee teachers against the Teachers’ Standards in England?

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    Some teacher educators use numerical grades when assessing teaching competencies. In this situation, statistical analysis can be used to monitor consistency and look for correlations between assessment outcomes across teacher training partnerships and at different stages in training. Another approach is to calculate effect size metrics. These do not claim statistical significance but do seek to explain the practical impact of patterns in quantitative data. This study looks at number grade assessment data from a large secondary initial teacher education programme across schools working in partnership with a higher education provider in the Northwest of England. The proportion of variance between numerical grades for individual Teachers’ Standards and overall teaching was calculated at each formal review point over three consecutive years. Despite the complex process involved in assessing teaching competencies against performance criteria and the potential for subjective variation between individual assessors, the data consistently demonstrated underlying patterns. These suggested that quality assurance and management of assessment issues could have been a major influence on the assessors

    Assessing trainee secondary teachers on school placement: Subject knowledge and overall teaching grades.

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    Schools and Initial Teacher Training/Education providers have joint responsibility for developing trainee subject knowledge. Due to the current curriculum and training emphasis placed upon the importance of subject knowledge, the relationship between it and overall teaching grades is of interest when monitoring trainee assessment data collated from school mentors in placement schools. This paper reports a statistical analysis of numerical grades awarded on progress review forms completed by mentors using the teaching competencies described in the Teachers’ Standards. It includes the assessment data gathered from two consecutive cohorts of secondary Post Graduate Diploma in Education trainees whilst on school placement experience. All the schools were in partnership with a single Higher Education provider in the North West of England. The focus for the analysis was the distribution of grades assigned to trainees in English National Curriculum core subjects for overall teaching and two standards with descriptors covering aspects of teacher subject knowledge. Of twenty-four comparisons, only six indicated significant differences. In these instances, more high grades than expected were assigned for the standard describing teacher subject content and curriculum knowledge compared to the standard describing pedagogy and/or overall teaching

    Consistency counts- or does it?

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    All stake holders in competency based teacher training systems share an interest in the consistency of assessment outcomes and practice. Assessment data from more than 200 trainees participating in Initial Teacher Training/Education (ITT/E) programmes and partnerships at a Higher Education (HE) provider in the Northwest of England were analysed during the academic year 2014-15. At four formal review points the overall teaching grades received by trainees were compared across five ITT/E programmes leading to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). Several statistical approaches were employed and compared. All the methods indicated consistency of outcomes across the programmes for the final summative assessment. Two statistical methods were used to investigate the strength of correlations between grades awarded for individual teaching standards and the trainees’ overall teaching grades. Both demonstrated that all individual standards were positively correlated with overall teaching grades. The second and qualitative phase of the study is ongoing and uses Q-Analysis to illuminate these initial findings by seeking to identify clusters of subjectivity amongst mentors and tutors when prioritising statements about assessment. It is too early to report any results from this phase

    The journey from reflection on practice to research informed practice: the contribution of MA practitioner research

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    This paper examines how one higher education institute (HEI) in the Northwest of England has devised and developed an innovative Master of Arts (MA) in Education practice with a curriculum designed to meet the needs of newly and recently qualified teachers. The research considers that in the early stages of initial teacher education (ITE), learning to teach may involve an apprenticeship model where the teacher educator must model learning, teaching and assessment strategies and inspire their mentees to find out those that will work for them through models of reflection and policy in practice. Later, successful teachers must be able to choose and critically evaluate strategies and pedagogies for themselves, a defining factor in the design of the programme and curriculum. Emerging from a course review, we consider evidence based practice and practitioner research through a progression route (MA) from ITE. Furthermore we determine that the research focus of early career teachers in this context enables research at a personal level for professional development of emerging and focused targets for context dependent research. This paper concludes that the current programme does indeed meet serving teachers’ needs, and represents the move from reflection on practice to research informed practice evident through a consideration of the contemporary issues facing beginning teachers and their foci of study. This research also informs how we develop our recruitment strategy and next steps for the future to encourage a more sustained approach to research as teachers. It highlights clear steps for taking this research further and tracking beginning teachers’ research journey over time

    Subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) courses for creating new chemistry and physics teachers: do they work?

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    During extended subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) courses, graduates without chemistry or physics bachelor degrees prepared to enter a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) programme to become chemistry or physics teachers. Data were gathered from the exit survey returned by Liverpool John Moores University SKE students about to start their science PGCE course. Lesson analysis and final report forms from the PGCE course and an early survey of first destinations were also analysed. Findings suggest that the 2011–12 SKE students valued their course highly. Many issues encourage caution when interpreting PGCE assessment information but, on summative assessment of subject knowledge and overall teaching, there was no statistically significant difference between the frequency of grades awarded to 2011–12 PGCE trainees who had followed a SKE route and those who entered the science PGCE directly. Early indications were that their employment rates in teaching were also similar

    Subject knowledge enhancement courses for creating new chemistry and physics teachers: the students’ perceptions

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    Subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) courses are one option open to graduates with a science background whose first degree content is judged to be insufficient to train to become chemistry or physics teachers. Previous articles in School Science Review have discussed the structure of one type of extended SKE course offered at Liverpool John Moores University, and its impact on outcomes for students. This article focuses on the qualitative responses collected from the anonymous exit questionnaire surveys returned chemistry and physics SKE students about to continue on to their science Post Graduate Certificate in Education course. The main positive course characteristic cited was student support. The main positive outcomes perceived were improved subject knowledge and skills and increased confidence

    Working towards evidence based practice in science teaching and learning

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    High performing international education systems integrate evidence based practice into their initial teacher education programmes (BERA-RSA 2014). It is the authors’ experience that the usefulness of education research to education practitioners is not always easy to judge and this leads to justifiable caution towards evidence based practice amongst trainee science teachers and their mentors in schools. A subject knowledge module was taught separately to 22 undergraduate students in their final year of a Primary/Secondary Education Honours degree with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and to 50 students following Graduate Diploma Subject Knowledge Enhancement courses in Chemistry and Physics preparing to take up places on Science Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) courses. An example of informal practitioner research is described and discussed. This involved using a science in society or socio-scientific approach to deliver a science subject knowledge module with two different cohorts of intending science teachers. The aim was to demonstrate strategies for facilitating the development of critical thinking and scientific literacy in school science lessons. The use of anonymous voting devices during sessions indicated a polarisation of opinions amongst participants rather than a more considered or critical response to the scientific questions. This discussion seeks to illustrate the value and drawbacks of informal practitioner research and how this evidence based approach might be beneficial to teaching and learning in science

    Attitudes to assessing trainee teachers on school experience placement within a group involved in an initial teacher education partnership at an 11-16 academy: a Q-methodology approach

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    In England the recommendation and award of qualified teacher status (QTS) is currently linked to the assessment of trainee teachers’ competencies against performance criteria descriptors. Q-methodology was used to look for subjective differences in attitudes to the assessment of trainee teachers in school. This is a quantitative approach to qualitative research combining the best of both. It statistically compares participants’ perceptions of a wide range of ideas whilst demonstrating clearly the qualitative differences between any groups showing subjectivities in their responses. A small group involved in initial teacher education at an 11-16 academy school took part. The academy was in partnership with a higher education QTS provider. Each respondent independently completed an anonymous on-line sorting exercise using a concourse of 41 statements about the assessment of trainees. This was constructed from appropriate literature, national policy and the partnership’s documentation and guidelines. The group included a visiting tutor, two school mentors and five trainees. Their responses were analysed using standard Q-methodology software. Participants demonstrated a clear consensus about prioritising statements concerning compliance with national requirements and local guidance. However, factor analysis identified one group, one pair and two individuals with subjective differences in their levels of agreement with statements about the assessment of trainees’ teaching competencies. A group of four, that included one mentor and his mentee, prioritised statements linked to fairness, validity and quality assurance processes within and external to the academy. The other mentor and her mentee perceived assessment almost solely in terms defined by the Teachers’ Standards in England. This suggested that the different perspectives on assessment were associated with influences other than the respondents’ differing roles within ITE

    Insights from a Subject Knowledge Enhancement Course for Creating New Chemistry and Physics Teachers

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    A recent Government response to shortages of new physics and chemistry teachers is the extended subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) course. Graduates without a physics or chemistry bachelor degree are prepared by an SKE course to enter a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) programme to become science teachers with a physics or chemistry specialism. SKE courses challenge common assumptions about the nature of subject knowledge for teaching and who should teach it: school science educators or scientists? This article shares the SKE course model developed and taught by the Science Education team at Liverpool John Moores University, and some early insights into supporting subject knowledge development
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