Showing papers in "Journal of Education for Teaching in 1989"
TL;DR: The authors proposed an analytic model of the different types of knowledge, beliefs and attitudes of a mathematics teacher, and their relationship with practice, which has implications for teacher education and has been shown to have significant impact on teacher education.
Abstract: Official pressure for reforms in the teaching of mathematics overlooks a key factor: the psychological foundations of the practice of teaching mathematics, including the teacher's knowledge, beliefs and attitudes. Research on teaching and teacher education also under‐emphasises this area, which Shulman terms the ‘missing program’ in research on teacher cognitions. The present paper addresses this lack by proposing an analytic model of the different types of knowledge, beliefs and attitudes of the mathematics teacher, and their relationship with practice. Of particular note is the importance accorded to the teacher's practical knowledge of the teaching of mathematics (both pedagogical and curricular knowledge), knowledge of classroom organisation, and knowledge of the school context. Also notable is the importance ascribed to the teacher's beliefs concerning the nature of mathematics, and concerning the processes of teaching and learning mathematics. The model has implications for teacher educatio...
740 citations
TL;DR: An interview task to identify teachers' conceptions of teaching science was developed by as discussed by the authors, which allowed the identification of different components of the conception, including the nature of science, learning, learner characteristics, rationale for instruction, preferred instructional techniques and their relationship to form a conception.
Abstract: An interview task to identify teachers' conceptions of teaching science was developed. Analysis of the task allows the identification of different components of the conception including the nature of science, learning, learner characteristics, rationale for instruction, preferred instructional techniques and their relationship to form a conception of teaching science. Use with pre‐service science teachers demonstrated that conceptions can be analyzed for internal consistency and stability over time in addition to differences within the components themselves.
161 citations
TL;DR: The authors reported on the methodology used in a recent classroom investigation of teachers' expressed beliefs in which each of two participating teachers was engaged as co-researcher involved in the design, conduct and interpretation of the work.
Abstract: This paper reports on the methodology used in a recent classroom investigation of teachers' expressed beliefs in which each of two participating teachers was engaged as co‐researcher involved in the design, conduct and interpretation of the work. The study exemplifies Hunt's notions of reflexivity, responsiveness and reciprocity, and reflects an understanding of teaching as experienced by the two teacher/co‐investigators. Ethnographic techniques of participation, observation and interview‐discussion were used. Field notes and written reflections, discussion transcripts and a written descriptive summary illustrate the reciprocal, reflexive and responsive nature of the research as a cycle of experiential learning. * A version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, April 1988.
30 citations
TL;DR: The four-year B.Ed. course of initial teacher education at Oxford Polytechnic is based on the development of a reflective teacher/tutor approach as discussed by the authors, which requires that attention be paid to the perspectives of the three groups involved: teachers, tutors and students.
Abstract: The newly developing four‐year B.Ed. course of initial teacher education at Oxford Polytechnic is based on the development of a reflective teacher/tutor approach. School experience has been central to the development, because the approach requires that attention be paid to the perspectives of the three groups involved: teachers, tutors and students. The process of action research in which these perspectives were taken into account is described. The resulting simultaneous development of the model of reflective teaching/tutoring and of the course itself is explained and some conclusions drawn about the approach, the process of change, action research and teacher appraisal. Finally some questions that have arisen in the course of the inquiry are raised.
22 citations
TL;DR: The authors applied methods of discourse analysis to the Tomorrow's Teachers (1986) report and demonstrated how the discourse of US education reform proposals, exemplified by the Holmes Group report, Tomorrow's teachers (1986), constructs knowledge about professionalization of teaching.
Abstract: Teaching cannot ‘professionalize itself as medicine has done, and reform proposals that urge it to do so ignore issues of teaching's place in the occupational hierarchy. Applying methods of discourse analysis, the present paper demonstrates how the discourse of US education reform proposals, exemplified by the Holmes Group report, Tomorrow's Teachers (1986), constructs knowledge about professionalization of teaching. This analysis bears not only on what the report says but how it says it, thus differing from the numerous studies and critical reviews of the report in focusing on the report's form, and not only its content. The rhetoric of Tomorrow's Teachers reveals its close family resemblance to the long tradition of the ‘American jeremiad’ (Bercovitch, 1978), the typically American genre of self‐criticism (and self‐reassurance) that dates back to the political sermons of the New England Puritan preachers. The underlying medical metaphor of Tomorrow's Teachers (teaching is doctoring') is shown t...
17 citations
TL;DR: This article examined the classroom knowledge of experienced teachers and the ways that this knowledge is articulated to preservice teachers and found that placement potentially influences the substance, quality and opportunity offered by the student teaching experience.
Abstract: This study examines the classroom knowledge of experienced teachers and the ways that this knowledge is articulated to preservice teachers. The 36 teachers in this study, 18 elementary and 18 secondary, were placed on the basis of four selection instruments designed by a school‐university task force to assess cooperating teachers' knowledge about teaching tasks and common pedagogical problems. Comparisons of recommendation, status and quality of teacher responses reveal notable differences among the cooperating teachers. These differences result in contrasting views about teachers' suitability for the role of cooperating teacher and suggest that placement potentially influences the substance, quality and opportunity offered by the student teaching experience.
14 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an attempt to meet the DES requirement is made through the adoption of two models of subject study and their application to young children; their implications for subject study at the level of higher education are drawn.
Abstract: The education of intending primary school teachers in England and Wales has increased the amount of academic subject specialist study in response to governmental pressure. (Primary means children between 7 and 11 years.) This paper seeks to show that the Department of Education and Science's (DES) requirement of initial teacher training courses at primary level that it should include the application of subject study to the learning and developmental needs of young children is problematical, begging questions of ideology, epistemology, psychology and curriculum organisation. An attempt to meet the DES requirement is made through the adoption of two models of subject study and their application to young children; their implications for subject study at the level of higher education are drawn. Content and pedagogy are examined in the light of the two models. The suggestion is examined that together they constitute analytical tools to examine subject study at primary school and higher education level...
12 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a supportive framework for innovating teachers based on interactive collaboration between researchers and teachers in a mixed ability teaching project in an Israeli comprehensive school is described, and the authors consider the critical position of teachers in school improvement projects whose success depends on their ability and willingness to innovate.
Abstract: This paper considers the critical position of teachers in school improvement projects whose success depends on their ability and willingness to innovate The paper describes a supportive framework for innovating teachers based on interactive collaboration between researchers and teachers in a mixed ability teaching project in an Israeli comprehensive school Within this framework the teachers’ ability to reflect in action was enhanced Implications of the project are considered
10 citations
TL;DR: The authors argued that the Scottish Education Department (SED) has dispensed with its earlier advocacy of human relations management approaches to staff development, arguing that the concept of collaborative INSET, stressed in the National Committee for the In-service Training of Teachers (NCITT) reports of 1984, is not mentioned in the SED's consultation paper School Teachers' Professional Development into the 1990s.
Abstract: This paper argues that the Scottish Education Department (SED) has dispensed with its earlier advocacy of human relations management approaches to staff development. The concept of ‘collaboration’, stressed in the National Committee for the In‐service Training of Teachers (NCITT) reports of 1984, is not mentioned in the SED's consultation paper School Teachers’ Professional Development into the 1990s. The period between 1979 and 1984 is analysed briefly. This period was typified by a declared preference for collaborative INSET. Consideration is given to the SED's consultation paper School Teachers’ Professional Development into the 1990s, and the SED's concept of ‘professional development’ is examined. The SED's management ethos as implied in Curriculum and Assessment in Scotland: a policy for the 1990s is incorporated into the analysis.
6 citations
TL;DR: This paper reviewed cognitive research on computer programming selectively, and suggested how it could be used to open new avenues of research in the fields of teacher education and instructional supervision, and showed that many of its implications have yet to be exploited vis-a-vis the study of classroom teaching.
Abstract: Over the past decade, researchers have begun to study classroom teaching in terms of the knowledge structures and cognitive processes that teachers use to design instruction. In the process, researchers have borrowed many theoretical principles from cognitive research across a wide range of content domains, including computer programming. Although research on computer programming has proven to be a rich source of cognitive theory, many of its implications have yet to be exploited vis‐a‐vis the study of classroom teaching. The purpose of this paper is to review cognitive research on computer programming selectively, and to suggest how it could be used to open new avenues of research in the fields of teacher education and instructional supervision.
5 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored the place of democratic approaches in teacher education with reference to polytechnic-based work with a group of students and followed that same group into teaching practice where a variant of the Meighan-Harber approach is adopted.
Abstract: In an earlier paper, the place of democratic approaches in teacher education was explored with reference to polytechnic‐based work with a group of students. This paper follows that same group into teaching practice where a variant of the Meighan‐Harber approach is adopted. Partnership supervision, as this variant is known, seems to offer an essentially student‐centred approach to the professional development of student teachers which is an interesting alternative to the more traditional tutor‐centred approach adopted by many institutions.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an analysis of interviews with students about their views on ideal and actual schooling and find that severe shortcomings in pedagogy in schools, and the need for critical rethinking, reflection and change, not only in schools but also in teacher education.
Abstract: This paper presents an analysis of interviews with students about their views on ideal and actual schooling. Eighteen students from 6th, 7th and 8th grades attending six public and private schools in Porto Alegre, Brazil, were interviewed. Results indicate severe shortcomings in pedagogy in schools, and the need for critical re‐thinking, reflection and change, not only in schools, but also in teacher education.
TL;DR: The authors discusses significant changes in the funding and organisation of teachers' In-service Training (INSET) in England and Wales which have resulted in a decline in the number of secondments to long award-bearing courses and an increased emphasis on school-focused INSET, geared to the staff development needs of the whole school.
Abstract: This paper discusses significant changes in the funding and organisation of teachers’ In‐service Training (INSET) in England and Wales which have resulted in a decline in the number of secondments to long award‐bearing courses and an increased emphasis on school‐focused INSET, geared to the staff‐development needs of the whole school. A small‐scale survey of local education authorities is reported. The survey results indicate that, whilst higher education (HE) is perceived as still having a valuable role to play, account has to be taken of changes in teacher attitudes, expectations and responsibilities. The implications for HE institutions with an interest in providing INSET are that they need to be more flexible, adaptable and collaborative in responding to training needs. The efforts of teachers involved in INSET need to be recognised. Where possible they should form part of a longer‐term, modular programme in which course credits can be accumulated and, if necessary, transferred between differ...
TL;DR: The authors examined the professional life of a rural teacher in British Columbia, Canada, and provided a description of who teaches in a rural school and offered insights as to why many teachers do not remain in rural communities.
Abstract: A teacher shortage is anticipated in the rural areas of Canada over the next decade. Until the early eighties, most rural school districts experienced a high mobility of teaching staff. Decreasing demand for teachers, declining student enrolments and tighter government fiscal policies for several years changed traditional patterns of professional employment and mobility. This paper examines the professional life of a rural teacher in British Columbia, Canada, provides a description of who teaches in a rural school and offers insights as to why many teachers do not remain in rural communities. A new personalised rural teacher preparation programme, developed by professional collaboration, is described briefly, and the importance of training in assisting teachers overcome culture shock is discussed. The conclusion emphasises that unless new teachers are adequately trained and socialised for a professional life in a rural community, traditional patterns of professional mobility will once again becom...
TL;DR: In this paper, the main characteristics of an ideal secondary school mathematics teacher as perceived by pre-service teachers in the science education department of Middle East Technical University (METU) were investigated.
Abstract: The first aim of this study was to ascertain the main characteristics of an ideal secondary‐school mathematics teacher as perceived by pre‐service teachers in the science education department of Middle East Technical University (METU). The second aim was to explore cooperating teachers' views of the extent to which the pre‐service teachers acquired these characteristics, and the pre‐service teachers' views of the extent to which their cooperating teachers possessed these characteristics. Thirdly, we wanted to ascertain dissonances and consonances between pre‐service teachers and their cooperative teachers.
TL;DR: In this article, the predictive value of dominant, calm and enthusiastic behaviour, shown by applicants for a Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) teacher training course, for selection and teaching performance was examined.
Abstract: This study examines the predictive value of dominant, calm and enthusiastic behaviour, shown by applicants for a Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) teacher training course, for selection and teaching performance. Behaviour at entry was assessed by a questionnaire to referees and by rating interview reports. Progress during the course was recorded from ratings of teaching practice reports, ratings from tutors and success in getting employment. Course selectors discriminated much more between the skills of accepted and rejected candidates than did referees, and the significance of this difference is discussed. Dominance and calmness were the best predictors of progress on course.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe an exercise designed to make members of selection panels and candidates more aware of factors at work in the processes of short-listing and interviewing candidates.
Abstract: The paper describes an exercise designed to make members of selection panels and candidates more aware of factors at work in the processes of short‐listing and interviewing candidates. As described, the exercise was used to train school governors, headteachers and heads of science departments on the one hand, and student teachers on the other. The exercise takes the form of a simulation of an appointment to a teaching post and concerns both the short‐listing and interview stages. The paper describes an evaluation of the exercise and concludes that it plays a useful part in the training of selection panels and students.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an innovation in a Kenyan BEd (primary) course, which they call the Innovation in BEd Course (IBC) and the BEd course.
Abstract: (1989). Innovation in a Kenyan BEd (Primary) Course. Journal of Education for Teaching: Vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 247-254.
TL;DR: The activities of the European Information Centre for the Further Education of Teachers (EIC•FET) in Prague are described in this paper, where they participated in conferences held with UNESCO or other inter-regional organizations.
Abstract: This paper reports on the activities of the European Information Centre for the Further Education of Teachers (EIC‐FET) in Prague. EIC‐FET involvement in conferences held with UNESCO or other inter...