Search results for: teachers’ professional competencies

Authors: Bernardita Tornero

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Cognitive Acceleration in Mathematics Education (CAME) programmes have been used successfully for promoting the development of thinking skills in school students for the last 30 years. Given that the approach has had a tremendous impact on the thinking capabilities of participating students, this study explored the experience of using the programme with prospective primary teachers in Chile. Therefore, this study not only looked at the experience of prospective primary teachers during the CAME course as learners, but also examined how they perceived the approach from their perspective as future teachers, as well as how they could transfer the teaching strategies they observed to their future classrooms. Given the complexity of the phenomenon under study, this research used a mixed methods approach. For this reason, the impact that the CAME course had on prospective teachers’ thinking skills was not only approached by using a test that assessed the participants’ improvements in these skills, but their learning and teaching experiences were also recorded through qualitative research tools (learning journals, interviews and field notes). The main findings indicate that, at the end of the CAME course, prospective teachers not only demonstrated higher thinking levels, but also showed positive attitudinal changes towards teaching and learning in general, and towards mathematics in particular. The participants also had increased confidence in their ability to teach mathematics and to promote thinking skills in their students. In terms of the CAME methodology, prospective teachers not only found it novel and motivating, but also commented that dealing with the thinking skills topic during a university course was both unusual and very important for their professional development. This study also showed that, at the end of the CAME course, prospective teachers felt they had developed strategies that could be used in their classrooms in the future. In this context, the relevance of the study is not only that it described the impact and the positive results of the first experience of using a CAME approach with prospective teachers, but also that some of the conclusions have significant implications for the teaching of thinking skills and the training of primary school teachers.

Keywords: cognitive acceleration, formal reasoning, prospective teachers, initial teacher training

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Authors: Thuy Phan, Stephanie Luallin

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Inclusive education policies have demonstrated benefits for students with and without disabilities in the US. There are several laws that relate to inclusive education, such as 'No Child Left Behind', 'The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act'. However, the application of these inclusive education laws and policies vary per state and school district. Classroom teachers in an inclusive classroom often experience confusion as to how to apply these policies in order to create appropriate inclusive learning environments that meet the abilities and needs of their diverse student population. The study aims to investigate teachers’ perspective of their capacities to create an appropriate learning environment for their diverse student population including students with disabilities. Qualitative method is implemented in this study, using open-end interview questions to investigate teachers’ perspective of their capacities to create an appropriate inclusive learning environment for all students based on current inclusive education laws and district policies in the state of Colorado, USA. These findings may indicate a lack of confidence in teachers’ capacity to create appropriate inclusive learning environments based on laws and district policies; including challenges that classroom teachers may experience in creating inclusive learning environments. The purpose of this study is to examine the adequate preparation of classroom teachers in creating inclusive classrooms with the intent of determining implications for developing policies in inclusive education.

Keywords: educator’s capacity, inclusive education, inclusive learning environment, policy

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Authors: Nan Stevens

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Photo-voice is a participatory method through which participants identify and represent their lived experiences and contexts through the use of photo imagery. Photo-voice is a qualitative research method that explores individuals’ lived experiences. This method is known as a creative art form to help researchers listen to the 'voice' of a certain population. A teacher educator at Thompson Rivers University, responsible for preparing new teachers for the demands of the profession in an ever-changing demographic, utilized the Photo-voice method to enable a self-study of emerging teachers’ readiness for the inclusive classroom. Coding analysis was applied to 96 Photo-voice portfolios, which were created over two years with the Inclusive Education course work, in a Bachelor of Education program (Elementary). Coding utilized students’ written associations to their visual images, anecdotes attached to visual metaphors, and personal narratives that illustrated the professional development process in which they were engaged. Thematic findings include: 1) becoming an inclusive educator is a process; 2) one must be open to identifying and exploring their fear and biases, and 3) an attitudinal shift enables relevant skill acquisition and readiness for working with diverse student needs.

Keywords: teacher education, inclusive education, professional development, Photo-voice

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Authors: Chialing Chang

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Language and culture are critical foundations of international mobility. However, the students who are limited to the local environment may affect their learning outcome and global perspective. Video Conferencing has been proven an economical way for students as a medium to communicate with international students around the world. In Taiwan, the National Development Commission advocated the development of bilingual national policies in 2030 to enhance national competitiveness and foster English proficiency and fully launched bilingual activation of the education system. Globalization is closely related to the development of Taiwan's education. Therefore, the teacher conducted an integrated lesson through interdisciplinary learning. This study aims to investigate how the teacher helps develop students' global and language core competencies in the international education class. The methodology comprises four stages, which are lesson planning, class observation, learning data collection, and speech analysis. The Grice's Conversational Maxims are adopted to analyze the students' conversation in the video conferencing course. It is the action research from the teacher's reflection on approaches to developing students' language learning skills. The study lays the foundation for mastering the teacher's international education professional development and improving teachers' teaching quality and teaching effectiveness as a reference for teachers' future instruction.

Keywords: international education, language learning, Grice's conversational maxims, video conferencing course

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Authors: Tsafi Timor

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The research focuses on the exploration of the unique journey that novice teachers experience in their first year of teaching, among graduates of re-training programs into teaching. The study explores the experiences of success and failure and the factors that underpin positive experiences, as well as the journey (process) of this year with reference to the comparison between novice teachers and new immigrants. The content analysis that was adopted in the study was conducted on texts that were written by the teachers and detailed their first year of teaching. The findings indicate that experiences of success are featured by personal satisfaction, constant need of feedback, high motivation in challenging situations, and emotions. Failure experiences are featured by frustration, helplessness, sense of humiliation, feeling of rejection, and lack of efficacy. Factors that promote and inhibit positive experiences relate to personal, personality, professional and organizational levels. Most teachers reported feeling like new immigrants, and demonstrated different models of the process of the first year of teaching. Further research is recommended on the factors that promote and inhibit positive experiences, and on 'The Missing Link' of the relationship between Teacher Education Programs and the practices in schools.

Keywords: first-year teaching, novice teachers, school practice, teacher education programs

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Authors: Jiabei Zhang

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Online programs developed for preparing qualified teachers have significantly increased over the years in the United States of America (USA). However, no online graduate programs for training adapted physical education (APE) teachers for children with significant developmental disabilities are currently available in the USA. The purpose of this study was to develop an online master’s degree program for the preparation of APE teachers to serve children with significant developmental disabilities. The characteristics demonstrated by children with significant developmental disabilities, the competencies required for certified APE teachers, and the evidence-based positive behavioral interventions (PBI) documented for teaching children with significant developmental disabilities were fully reviewed in this study. An online graduate program with 14 courses for 42 credit hours (3 credit hours per course) was then developed for training APE teachers to serve children with significant developmental disabilities. Included in this online program are five components: (a) 2 capstone courses, (b) 4 APE courses, (c) 4 PBI course, (d) 2 elective courses, and (e) 2 capstone courses. All courses will be delivered online through Desire2Learn administered by the Extended University Programs at Western Michigan University (WMU). An applicant who has a bachelor’s degree in physical education or special education is eligible for this proposed program. A student enrolled in this program is expected to complete all courses in 2.5 years while staying in their local area. This program will be submitted to the WMU curriculum committee for approval in the fall of 2018.

Keywords: adapted physical education, online program, teacher preparation, and significant disabilities

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Authors: Bernice Badal

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This article addresses a persistent challenge related to teacher agency in knowledge acquisition in professional development (PD) workshops in contexts of educational change, given that scholarship identifies a need for more teacher involvement and amplification of teacher's voices. Theoretical concepts are drawn from Bandura’s Social cognitive theory, incorporating the triadic causation model of agency to examine the reciprocal nature of the context, teacher characteristics, and systemic influences that shape how knowledge is transmitted and acquired in PD workshops. This qualitative study, using a mix of classroom observations and interviews, explored the political, contextual, and personal characteristics of teacher agency in PD through an analysis of data extracted from a PhD study. The narratives of six teachers from three township schools are examined to show how PD efforts in South Africa have failed to take account of the holistic development of teacher agency in knowledge dissemination and how this shapes teacher self-efficacy beliefs about being able to masterfully apply the tenets of the reform. Agency, teacher voice, and contextual considerations were used as markers of the quality of the training provided to understand how knowledge is acquired and meaning is made. The findings suggest that systemic influences of institutionally imposed PD offer partial understandings of the reform, which is offered in traditional formats that do not consider teacher empowerment in knowledge production and the development of teacher agency. Common in all the participants’ responses is the need for more information and training on the prescribed approach for teaching English as a second language; however, this paper holds the view that more information may not solve teachers’ dilemmas. Accordingly, it recommends a restructuring of the programme with facilitators being more cognisant of teacher agency for the development of transformative teachers. The findings of the study contribute to the field of teacher knowledge, teacher training, and professional development in the context of educational reforms.

Keywords: teacher professional development, teacher voice, teacher agency, educational reforms, teacher knowledge

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Authors: Fang Tan

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This research focuses on the appropriate use of lexical bundles in spoken discourse, particularly in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms in Northeast China. While previous studies have mainly examined lexical bundles in written discourse, there is a need to investigate their usage in spoken discourse due to the limited availability of spoken discourse corpora. English teachers’ use of lexical bundles is crucial for effective teaching and communication in the EFL classroom. The aim of this study is to investigate the functions of four-word lexical bundles in native English teachers’ EFL oral English classes in Northeast China. Specifically, the research focuses on the usage of stance bundles, which were found to be the most significant type of bundle in the analyzed corpus. By comparing the self-built university spoken English classroom discourse corpus with the other self-built university English for General Purposes (EGP) corpus, the study aims to highlight the difference in bundle usage between native and non-native teachers in EFL classrooms. The research employs a corpus-based study. The observed corpus consists of more than 300,000 tokens, in which the data has been collected in the past five years. The reference corpus is composed of over 800,000 tokens, in which the data has been collected over 12 years. All the primary data collection involved transcribing and annotating spoken English classes taught by native English teachers. The analysis procedures included identifying and categorizing four-word lexical bundles, with specific emphasis on stance bundles. Frequency counts, and comparisons with the Chinese English teachers’ corpus were conducted to identify patterns and differences in bundle usage. The research addresses the following questions: 1) What are the functions of four-word lexical bundles in native English teachers’ EFL oral English classes? 2) How do stance bundles differ in usage between native and non-native English teachers’ classes? 3) What implications can be drawn for English teachers’ professional development based on the findings? In conclusion, this study provides valuable insights into the usage of four-word lexical bundles, particularly stance bundles, in native English teachers’ EFL oral English classes in Northeast China. The research highlights the difference in bundle usage between native and non-native English teachers’ classes and provides implications for English teachers’ professional development. The findings contribute to the understanding of lexical bundle usage in EFL classroom discourse and have theoretical importance for language teaching methodologies. The self-built university English classroom discourse corpus used in this research is a valuable resource for future studies in this field.

Keywords: EFL classroom discourse, four-word lexical bundles, stance, implication

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Authors: Eirini Busack

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Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and the sudden transfer to online teaching, teachers have struggled to reconstruct their teaching and learning materials to adapt them to the new reality of online teaching and learning. Consequently, the pupils’ learning was disrupted during this orientation phase. Due to the above situation, teachers from all fields concluded that it is vital that their pupils should be able to continue their learning even without the teacher being physically present. Various websites and applications have been in use since then in hope that pupils will still enjoy a qualitative education; unfortunately, this was often not the case. To address this issue, it was therefore decided to focus the research on the development of digital learning paths. The fundamentals of these learning paths include the implementation of scenario-based learning (digital storytelling), the integration of media-didactic theory to make it pedagogically appropriate for learners, alongside instructional design knowledge and the drive to promote autonomous learners. This particular research is being conducted within the frame of the research project “Sustainable integration of subject didactic digital teaching-learning concepts” (InDiKo, 2020-2023), which is currently conducted at the University of Education Karlsruhe and investigates how pre-service teachers can acquire the necessary interdisciplinary and subject-specific media-didactic competencies to provide their future learners with digitally enhanced learning opportunities, and how these competencies can be developed continuously and sustainably. As English is one of the subjects involved in this project, the English Department prepared a seminar for the pre-service secondary teachers: “Media-didactic competence development: Developing learning paths & Digital Storytelling for English grammar teaching.” During this seminar, the pre-service teachers plan and design a Moodle-based differentiated lesson sequence on an English grammar topic that is to be tested by secondary school pupils. The focus of the present research is to assess the secondary school pupils’ expectations from an English grammar-focused digital learning path created by pre-service English teachers. The nine digital learning paths that are to be distributed to 25 pupils were produced over the winter and the current summer semester as the artifact of the seminar. Finally, the data to be quantitatively analysed and interpreted derive from the online questionnaires that the secondary school pupils fill in so as to reveal their expectations on what they perceive as a stimulating and thus effective grammar-focused digital learning path.

Keywords: digital storytelling, learning paths, media-didactics, autonomous learning

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Authors: Verónica Diaz Quezada

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This research examines the teaching models used by secondary math teachers when teaching logarithmic, quadratic and exponential functions. For this, descriptive case studies have been carried out on 5 secondary teachers. These teachers have been chosen from 3 scientific-humanistic and technical schools, in Chile. Data have been obtained through non-participant class observation and the application of a questionnaire and a rubric to teachers. According to the results, the didactic model that prevails is the one that starts with an interactive strategy, moves to a more content-based structure, and ends with a reinforcement stage. Nonetheless, there is always influence from teachers, their methods, and the group of students.

Keywords: teaching models, math teachers, functions, secondary education

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Authors: Nji Clement Bang, Rosemary Shafack M., Kum Henry Asei, Yaro Loveline Y

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Scholars perceive learner-centered teaching-learning reform as roles and resources in teacher education (TE) and professional outcome with transformative learning (TL) continuum dimensions. But, teaching-learning reform is fast proliferating amidst debilitating stakeholder systemic dichotomies, resources, commitment, resistance and poor quality outcome that necessitate stronger TE and professional continuums. Scholars keep seeking greater understanding of themes in teaching-learning reform, TE and professional outcome as continuums and how policymakers, student-teachers, teacher trainers and local communities concerned with initial TE can promote continuous holistic quality performance. To sustain the debate continuum and answer the overarching question, we use mixed-methods research-design with diverse literature and 409 sample-data. Onset text, interview and questionnaire analyses reveal debilitating teaching-learning reform in TE continuums that need TL revival. Follow-up focus group discussion and teaching considering TL insights reinforce holistic teaching-learning in TE. Therefore, significant increase in diverse prior-experience articulation1; critical reflection-discourse engagement2; teaching-practice interaction3; complex-activity constrain control4 and formative outcome- reintegration5 reinforce teaching-learning in learning-to-teach role-resource pathways and outcomes. Themes reiterate complex teaching-learning in TE programs that suits TL journeys and student-teachers and students cum teachers, workers/citizens become akin, transformative-learners who evolve personal and collective roles-resources towards holistic-lifelong-learning outcomes. The article could assist debate about quality teaching-learning reform through TL dimensions as TE and professional role-resource continuums.

Keywords: transformative learning perspectives, teacher education, initial teacher education, learner-centered pedagogical reform, life-long learning

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Authors: Thiru Vandeyar

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This study sets out to explore how teachers’ beliefs and attitudes about ICT policy influence a consensus approach to the formulation of a school ICT policy. This case study proposes Q- methodology as an innovative method to facilitate a school’s capacity to develop policy reflecting teacher beliefs and attitudes. Q-methodology is used as a constructivist approach to the formulation of an ICT policy. Data capture was a mix of Q-methodology and qualitative principles. Data was analyzed by means of document, content and cluster analysis methods. Findings were threefold: First, teachers’ beliefs and attitudes about ICT policy influenced a consensus approach by including teachers as policy decision-makers. Second, given the opportunity, teachers have the inherent ability to deconstruct and critically engage with policy statements according to their own professional beliefs and attitudes. And third, an inclusive approach to policy formulation may inform the practice of school leaders and policymakers alike on how schools may develop their own policy.

Keywords: ICT, policy, teacher beliefs, consensus

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Authors: Betsy Hannam

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Background: Staff nurses felt overwhelmed to learn new skills or complete competencies during their shift. Med/Surg units need to provide dedicated, uninterrupted time to complete training and mandatory competencies and practice skills. Purpose: To improve nurse satisfaction and competence by creating a Skills Day with uninterrupted time to complete competencies, brush up on skills, and evaluate skills learned through pre- and post-tests. Methods: The USL and CNL interviewed nurses to obtain input regarding skills needing reinforcement and included mandatory competencies relevant to Med/Surg to create the Skills Day agenda. Content experts from multiple disciplines were invited to educate staff to help address knowledge gaps. To increase attendance, multiple class days were offered. Results: 2018 Skills Day was held for an inpatient unit with 95% participation (n=35 out of 37RNs). The average pretest score, comprised of content questions from topics discussed, was 57%, and post test scoresaveraged 80%. 94% of test scores improved or remained the same. RNs were given an evaluation at the end of the day, where100% of staff noted Skills Day as beneficial, and 97% requested to repeat next year. Another Med/Surg unit asked to join Skills Day in 2019. In 2019, with 89% participation (n=57 out 64 RNs), the average pretest score was 68%, and the average post test score was 85%. 97% of scores improved or remained the same. 98% reported the class as beneficial, and 96% requested to repeat next year. Skills Day 2020-2022 on hold due to COVID. Looking forward to Skills Day 2023. Conclusion: Skills Day allows nurses to maintain competencies and improve knowledge in areas of interest without the stress of a patient assignment. Having unit leaders organize Skills Day, with the involvement of content experts from multiple disciplines, showed to be a successful and innovative team approach to support professional development.

Keywords: education, competency, skills day, medical/surgical

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Authors: Joanne Robertson, Awneet Sivia

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Preparing aspiring teachers to become advocates for social justice reflects a fundamental commitment for teacher education programs in Canada to create systemic educational change. The goal is ultimately to address inequities in K-12 education for students from multiple identity groups that have historically been marginalized and oppressed in schools. Social justice is described as an often undertheorized and vague concept in the literature, which increases the risk that teaching for social justice remains a lofty goal. Another concern is that the social justice agenda in teacher education in North America ignores pedagogies related to subject-matter knowledge and discipline-based teaching methods. The question surrounding how teacher education programs can address these issues forms the basis for the research undertaken in this study. The paper focuses on a qualitative research project that examines how an Equity Literature Circles (ELC) framework within a language arts methods course in a Bachelor of Education program may help pre-service teachers better understand the inherent relationship between literacy instructional practices and teaching about and for social justice. Grounded in the Freireian (2018) principle of praxis, this study specifically seeks to understand the impact of Equity Literature Circles on pre-service teachers’ understanding of current social justice issues (reflection), their development of professional competencies in literacy instruction (practice), and their identity as advocates of social justice (action) who address issues related to student diversity, equity, and human rights within the English Language Arts program. In this paper presentation, participants will be provided with an overview of the Equity Literature Circle framework, a summary of key findings and recommendations from the qualitative study, an annotated bibliography of suggested Young Adult novels, and opportunities for questions and dialogue.

Keywords: literacy, language, equity, social justice, diversity, human rights

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Authors: Fazilet Alachaher

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Within the constructivist perspective of teaching, which views skilled teaching as knowing what to do in uncertain and unpredictable situations, this research essay explores the topic of reflective teaching by investigating the following questions: (1) What is reflective teaching and why is it important? (2) Why should teachers be trained to be reflective and how can they be prepared to be reflective? (3) What is the role of the teaching context in teachers’ attempts to be reflective? This paper suggests that reflective teaching is important because of the various potential benefits to teaching. Through reflection, teachers can maintain their voices and creativeness thus have authority to affect students, curriculum and school policies. The discussions also highlight the need to prepare student teachers and their professional counterparts to be reflective, so they can develop the characteristics of reflective teaching and gain the potential benefits of reflection. This can be achieved by adopting models and techniques that are based on constructivist pedagogical approaches. The paper also suggests that maintaining teachers’ attempts to be reflective in a workplace context and aligning practice with pre-service teacher education programs require the administrators or the policy makers to provide the following: sufficient time for teachers to reflect and work collaboratively to discuss challenges encountered in teaching, fewer non-classroom duties, regular in-service opportunities, more facilities and freedom in choosing suitable ways of evaluating their students’ progress and needs.

Keywords: creative teaching, reflective teaching, constructivist pedagogical approaches, teaching context, teacher’s role, curriculum and school policies, teaching context effect

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Authors: Michael Olson

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The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) in the U.S. has established core competencies and milestones for family physicians in residency training programs. These competencies are intended to guide preceptors as they work with physician trainees toward independent practice. This conceptual paper describes a framework for coaching trainees toward these milestones using motivational interviewing as an evidence-based approach. The main objective of applying the motivational interviewing framework to the residency training setting is to facilitate clinical behavior change that meets higher level competencies/rubric. This is a work in progress and there is no manuscript/paper prepared to date. A conceptual paper/framework will be completed by the conference deadline. This is based on a separate but related development of work we have completed and published elsewhere.

Keywords: coaching, motivational interviewing, physicians, competencies

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Authors: Nazym Alykpashova

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This article is based on the results of the action research at Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan. The participants of this research were high school students who study Global Perspectives and Project Work course. Intellectual schools are designed to become an experimental site that develops, monitors, studies, analyzes, approves, implements modern models of educational programs. Subjects in NIS aimed to develop skills that will be useful for students in their life. Students learn how to do projects, research credible information, solve different issues. Many subjects cover complex topics, and most teachers feel that they often have to deliver a lot of information within one hour. Many educators recognize Conceptual Teaching, as well as Conceptual Learning, has a lot of benefits for students in terms of developing their perception of the subject topics. This qualitative paper presents findings of two research questions which explored high school students’ perception of conceptual teaching and its impact on their academic performance. Individual semi-structured interviews and observations were conducted with Global Perspectives teachers and students. The results of this action research assist teachers reflect on their professional practice.

Keywords: concept-based teaching, students’ research skills, teacher’s professional development, kazakhstan

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Authors: Wesal Maash

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This paper is part of a PhD mixed-method project currently conducted in the Saudi context. This paper explores the challenges novice Arabic language teachers (ALT) face when starting the teaching profession through semi-structured interviews with ten teachers and a questionnaire with 208 teachers. The data provided details of the challenges faced by those teachers and reasons why they face such a challenge. From the data, it can be deduced that schools are advanced and updated continuously, and the preparation program does not cope with that. This situation makes teachers struggle to cover the gap between what they learnt in their preparation and what is expected from them as teachers when they started their teaching profession. This paper suggests conducting further research to better understand this phenomenon by shedding light on the content of teachers' preparation programs.

Keywords: educational technologies, novice teachers, arabic language teachers, Saudi Arabia

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Authors: Yan Li, Qi-Fan Jia, Jie Zhou

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In today’s China, primary and secondary teachers are living a hard life with high pressure but low payment, which results in a sense of unfair and less satisfaction of life. However, teachers’ life satisfaction is a significant factor of their mental health and plays an important role in the development and progress of the society. This study was aimed to explore the effect of teachers’ perception of social justice on life satisfaction. 450 primary and secondary teachers from China were measured with life satisfaction scales, social justice scales, income satisfaction scale, job satisfaction scale, pressure condition scale, and major life event scale. Results showed their pressure is significantly higher than average, while life satisfaction, job satisfaction, income satisfaction and perceived social justice are lower. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that demographic variables, i.e., gender, age, education level and matric status, and factors related to occupation, i.e., professional title, school type and working hours per day cannot predict teachers’ life satisfaction. Teachers who had worked for 11-20 years had a lower life satisfaction compared to those with 1-5 years working experience. However, social status, monthly household income, income satisfaction, as well as job satisfaction were positively related to life satisfaction, whereas pressure condition was negatively related to it. After controlling for demographic factors and individual attitudes, social justice still had a positive effect on life satisfaction, among which distributive justice played a more important role than procedural justice. The suggestions on teachers’ condition in China and the implications for education reform to improve teachers’ mental health are discussed.

Keywords: life satisfaction, mental health, primary and secondary teachers, social justice

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Authors: Rian de Villiers

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Human mobility is one of the most significant development, foreign policy and domestic issues in the world today. Teacher loss due to migration is a global phenomenon that is impacting both developed and developing nations the world over. The purpose of this study was to find out how many newly qualified South African teachers were planning to teach in a foreign country; what were the prospective migrant teachers’ motives for migration; what destination countries were the most popular and why; and what were the prospective migrant teachers’ information needs before leaving South Africa. A group of final-year Bachelor of Education student teachers from a single university responded to a questionnaire on intra-and intercontinental migration. The responses were analysed quantitatively and/or qualitatively. The findings showed that 79% of the students indicated that they would be teaching in South Africa, 9% were planning to teach in another country, while 8% were undecided. More than a third of the students (38%) said that they would like to teach in another country in five years time. Just more than a quarter of the students (27%) preferred Australia as a destination, followed by the United Kingdom (16%), Korea (16%) and the USA (14%). The student teachers’ most important motive to teach in a foreign country was the opportunity to travel (27%), followed by earning a higher salary (26%) and professional development (23%). The student teachers indicated that their most important migration needs before leaving South Africa were information about health care, accommodation and banking assistance. Huge loss of teachers to host countries has a serious, negative impact upon the education system of most developing and/or source countries, including South Africa. Several steps and strategies to resolve teacher loss in South Africa are discussed.

Keywords: migration, academic mobility, teachers, teacher students, South Africa

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Authors: Lovemore Motsi

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The rapid pace of technological innovation, along with a global fascination with the internet, continues to result in a dominating call to integrate internet technologies in institutions of learning. However, the pressing question remains – how can online in-service training for teachers, support quality and success in professional development programmers. The aim of this study was to examine an integrated model that extended the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) with additional constructs – including attitude and behaviour intention – adopted from the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to answer the question. Data was collected from secondary school teachers at 10 selected schools in the Tshwane South district by means of the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS v 23.0), and the collected data was analysed quantitatively. The findings are congruent with model testing under conditions of volitional usage behaviour. In this regard, the role of facilitating condition variables is insignificant as a determinant of usage behaviour. Social norm variables also proved to be a weak determinant of behavioural intentions. Findings demonstrate that effort expectancy is the key determinant of online INSET usage. Based on these findings, the variable social influence and facilitating conditions are important factors in ensuring the acceptance of online INSET among teachers in selected secondary schools in the Tshwane South district.

Keywords: unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), teacher professional development, secondary schools, online INSET

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Authors: Nora El-Bilawia

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This paper discovers the challenges and/or opportunities to implementing multiple intelligence (MI) practices in English as foreign language (EFL) classrooms at Egyptian public schools as part of the government’s educational reform plan. It is found that Egyptian EFL teachers value the use of MI’s ways of teaching as means for active and higher order thinking. However, teachers believed they were underprivileged, as the government did not provide appropriate trainings, tools, or means to integrate MI in their daily lessons. They also conferred challenges they face due to some Egyptian schooling cultural practices. At the end of this chapter, a proposed need for a paradigm shift in the schooling culture in Egypt to implement practical changes in schools to promote hope in education such as the use of MI teaching tools. This study promotes cross-cultural understanding of educational opportunities and efforts for equal learning outcomes around the globe.

Keywords: professional development, schooling culture, acculturation, equitable education

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Authors: Ali Adamu

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Teachers’ background characteristics as a correlate of students’ achievement in Mathematics were studied in Gombe State. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was used for the analysis. Five Hundred and Twelve (512) students and 20 teachers from 12 schools in Gombe State of Nigeria were used for the study. Students’ Achievement Tests and Mathematics Teachers’ backgrounds were instruments for the study. The findings indicated that teachers’ qualifications, experience of the teacher, and teachers’ personalities had a positive correlation with students’ achievement. Recommendations are made, which include allowing the teachers to go for training as well as the government should ensure recruiting teachers that have experience in the teaching job.

Keywords: achievement-test, teachers’ personality, teaching mathematics, teacher-background

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Authors: Cynthia Adlerstein-Grimberg, Andrea Bralic-Echeverría

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An extensive and controversial research debate discusses pedagogical documentation (PD) within early childhood education (ECE) as integral to ECE teachers' professional development. The literature converges in acknowledging that ICT integration in PD can be fundamental for children's and teachers' collaborative learning by making their processes visible and open to reflection. Controversial issues about PD emerge around ICT integration and the use of multimedia applications and platforms, displacing the physical experience involved in this pedagogical practice. Authors argue that online platforms make PD become a passive device to demonstrate accountability and performance. Furthermore, ICT integration would make educators inform children and families of pedagogical processes, positioning them more as consumers instead of involving them in collective thinking and pedagogical decision-making. This article analyses how pedagogical documentation mediated by a multimedia application (MAFApp) allows for the positive strengthening of an ECE pedagogical online community that thinks collectively about learning environments. In doing so, the paper shows how ICT integration supports ECE teachers' collective online thinking, enabling them to move from the controversial version of online PD, where they only act as informers of children's learning and assume a voyeuristic perspective, towards a collective online thinking that builds professional development and supports pedagogical decision-making about learning environments. This article answers How ECE teachers' pedagogical documentation evolves with ICT integration using the MAFApp multimedia application in a national ECE online community. From a posthumanist stance, this paper draws on an 18-month collaborative ethnographic immersion in Chile's unique public ECE online PD community. It develops a unique case study of an online ECE pedagogical community mediated by a multimedia application called MAFApp. This ECE online community includes 32 Chilean public kindergartens, 45 ECE teachers, and 72 assistants, who produced 534 pedagogical documentation. Fieldwork included 35 in-depth interviews, 13 discussion groups, and the constant comparison method for the PD coding. Findings show ICT integration in PD builds collective online thinking that evolves through four moments of growing complexity: 1) teachernalism of built environments, 2) onlookerism of children's anecdotes in learning environments; 3) storytelling of children's place-making, and 4) empowering pedagogies for co-creating learning environments. ICT integration through the MAFApp multimedia application enabled ECE teachers to build collective online thinking, making pedagogies of place visible and engaging children in co-constructing learning environments. This online PD is a continuous professional learning space for ECE teachers, empowering pedagogies of place. In conclusion, ICT integration into PD progressively empowers pedagogies of place in Chilean public ECE. Strengthening collective online thinking using the MAFApp multimedia application sharply contrasts with some recent PD research findings. ICT integration to PD enabled strong collective online thinking. Doing so makes PD operate as a place of professional development, pedagogical reflective encounters, and experimentation while inhabiting their own learning environments with children.

Keywords: early childhood education, ICT integration, multimedia application, online collective thinking, pedagogical documentation, professional development

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Authors: Youmen Chaaban, Maha Ellili-Cherif

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The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of teachers’ individual characteristics and perceptions of environmental factors that impact their technology integration into their EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classrooms. To this end, a national survey examining EFL teachers’ perceptions was conducted at Qatari Independent schools. 263 EFL teachers responded to the survey which investigated several factors known to impact technology integration. These factors included technology availability and support, EFL teachers’ perceptions of importance, obstacles facing technology integration, competency with technology use, and formal technology preparation. The impact of these factors on teachers’ and students’ educational technology use was further measured. The analysis of the data included descriptive statistics and a chi-square analysis test in order to examine the relationship between these factors. The results revealed important cultural factors that impact teachers’ practices and attitudes towards technology in the Qatari context. EFL teachers were found to integrate technology most prominently for instructional delivery and preparation. The use of technology as a learning tool received less emphasis. Teachers further revealed consistent perceptions about obstacles to integration, high levels of confidence in using technology, and consistent beliefs about the importance of using technology as a learning tool. Further analyses of the factors impacting technology integration can assist with Qatar’s technology advancement and development efforts by indicating the areas of strength and areas where additional efforts are needed. The results will lay the foundation for conducting context-specific professional development suitable for the needs of EFL teachers in Qatari Independent Schools.

Keywords: educational technology integration, Qatar, EFL, independent schools, ICT

Procedia PDF Downloads 361

Authors: Freya Willicks

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The society of the 21st century is characterized by dynamic and complexity, developments that also shape universities and university life. The Bologna reform, for example, has led to restructuring at many European universities. Today's university teachers, therefore, have to meet many expectations: Their tasks include not only teaching but also the general improvement of the quality of teaching, good research, the management of various projects or the development of their own personal skills. This requires a high degree of flexibility and openness to change. The resulting pressure can often lead to exhaustion. Coaching can be a way for university teachers to cope with these pressures because it gives them the opportunity to discuss stressful situations with a coach and self-reflect on them. As a result, more and more universities in Europe offer to coach to their teachers. An analysis of the services provided at universities in Germany, however, quickly reveals an immense disagreement with regard to the understanding of ‘coaching’. A variety of terms is used, such as coaching, counselling or supervision. In addition, each university defines its offer individually, from process-oriented consulting to expert consulting, from group training to individual coaching. The biographic backgrounds of those who coach are also very divergent, both external and internal coaches can be suitable. These findings lead to the following questions: Which structural characteristics for coaching at universities have been proven successful? What competencies should a good coach for university lecturers have? In order to answer these questions, a qualitative study was carried out. In a first step, qualitative semi-structured interviews (N = 14) were conducted, on the one hand with coaches for university teachers and on the other hand with university teachers who have been coached. In a second step, the interviews were transcribed and analyzed using Mayring's qualitative content analysis. The study shows how great the potential of coaching can be for university teachers, who otherwise have little opportunity to talk about their teaching in a private setting. According to the study, the coach should neither be a colleague nor a superior of the coachee but should take an independent perspective, as this is the only way for the coachee to openly reflect on himself/herself. In addition, the coach should be familiar with the university system, i.e., be an academic himself/herself. Otherwise, he/she cannot fully understand the complexity of the teaching situation and the role expectations. However, internal coaches do not necessarily have much coaching experience or explicit coaching competencies. They often come from the university's own didactics department, are experts in didactics, but do not necessarily have a certified coaching education. Therefore, it is important to develop structures and guidelines for internal coaches to support their coaching. In further analysis, such guidelines will be developed on the basis of these interviews.

Keywords: coaching, university coaching, university didactics, qualitative interviews

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Authors: Michael J. Haslip

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Character strength application improves performance and well-being in adults across industries, but the potential impact of character strength training among early childhood educators is mostly unknown. To explore how character strengths are applied by early childhood educators at work, a qualitative study was completed alongside professional development provided to a group of in-service teachers of children ages 0-5 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Study participants (n=17) were all female. The majority of participants were non-white, in full-time lead or assistant teacher roles, had at least ten years of experience and a bachelor’s degree. Teachers were attending professional development weekly for 2 hours over a 10-week period on the topic of social and emotional learning and child guidance. Related to this training were modules and sessions on identifying a teacher’s character strength profile using the Values in Action classification of 24 strengths (e.g., humility, perseverance) that have a scientific basis. Teachers were then asked to apply their character strengths to help resolve current workplace challenges. This study identifies which character strengths the teachers reported using most frequently and the nature of the workplace challenges being resolved in this context. The study also reports how difficult these challenges were to the teachers and their success rate at resolving workplace challenges using a character strength application plan. The study also documents how teachers’ own use of character strengths relates to their modeling of these same traits (e.g., kindness, teamwork) for children, especially when the nature of the workplace challenge directly involves the children, such as when addressing issues of classroom management and behavior. Data were collected on action plans (reflective templates) which teachers wrote to explain the work challenge they were facing, the character strengths they used to address the challenge, their plan for applying strengths to the challenge, and subsequent results. Content analysis and thematic analysis were used to investigate the research questions using approaches that included classifying, connecting, describing, and interpreting data reported by educators. Findings reveal that teachers most frequently use kindness, leadership, fairness, hope, and love to address a range of workplace challenges, ranging from low to high difficulty, involving children, coworkers, parents, and for self-management. Teachers reported a 71% success rate at fully or mostly resolving workplace challenges using the action plan method introduced during professional development. Teachers matched character strengths to challenges in different ways, with certain strengths being used mostly when the challenge involved children (love, forgiveness), others mostly with adults (bravery, teamwork), and others universally (leadership, kindness). Furthermore, teacher’s application of character strengths at work involved directly modeling character for children in 31% of reported cases. The application of character strengths among early childhood educators may play a significant role in improving teacher well-being, reducing job stress, and improving efforts to model character for young children.

Keywords: character strengths, positive psychology, professional development, social-emotional learning

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Authors: Alberto Mora-Vazquez, Nelly Paulina Trejo Guzmán

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This study examines the learning trajectories of twelve language teachers who were former students of a BA in applied linguistics at a Mexican state university. In particular, the study compares the social, academic and professional trajectories of two groups of teachers, six locally raised and educated ones and six repatriated ones from the U.S. Our interest in undertaking this research lies in the wide variety of students’ backgrounds we as professors in the BA program have witnessed throughout the years it has been around. Ever since the academic program started back in 2006, the student population has been made up of students whose backgrounds are highly diverse in terms of English language proficiency level, professional orientations and degree of cross-cultural awareness. Such diversity is further evidenced by the ongoing incorporation of some transnational students who have lived and studied in the United States for a significant period of time before their enrolment in the BA program. This, however, is not an isolated event as other researchers have reported this phenomenon in other TESOL-related programs of Mexican universities in the literature. Therefore, this suggests that their social and educational experiences are quite different from those of their Mexican born and educated counterparts. In addition, an informal comparison of the participation in formal teaching activities of the two groups at the beginning of their careers also suggested that significant differences in teacher training and development needs could also be identified. This issue raised questions about the need to examine the life and learning trajectories of these two groups of student teachers so as to develop an intervention plan aimed at supporting and encouraging their academic and professional advancement based on their particular needs. To achieve this goal, the study makes use of a combination of retrospective life-history research and the analysis of academic documents. The first approach uses interviews for data-collection. Through the use of a narrative life-history interview protocol, teachers were asked about their childhood home context, their language learning and teaching experiences, their stories of studying applied linguistics, and self-description. For the analysis of participants’ educational outcomes, a wide range of academic records, including reports of language proficiency exams results and language teacher training certificates, were used. The analysis revealed marked differences between the two groups of teachers in terms of academic and professional orientations. The locally educated teachers tended to graduate first, to look for further educational opportunities after graduation, to enter the language teaching profession earlier, and to expand their professional development options more than their peers. It is argued that these differences can be explained by their identities, which are made up of the interplay of influences such as their home context, their previous educational experiences and their cultural background. Implications for language teacher trainers and applied linguistics academic program administrators are provided.

Keywords: beginning language teachers, life-history research, Mexican context, transnational students

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Authors: Pinar Sali, Esim Gursoy, Ebru Atak Damar

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Teachers’ awareness of and involvement in educational research (ER) is regarded as an indispensable aspect of professional growth and development. It is also believed to be a catalyst for effective teaching and learning. This strong emphasis on the significance of teacher research engagement has sparked inquiry into how teachers construe ER and whether or not they practice it. However, there seems to exist a few researches on teachers’ perceptions of and experience with ER in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT). The present study thus attempts to fill this gap in the ELT literature and aims to unearth English language teachers’ perceptions of ER. Understanding these perceptions would undoubtedly aid in the development of strategies to promote teacher interest and involvement in research. The participants of the present study are 70 English language teachers in public and private schools in Turkey. A mixed-method approach has been used in the study. Both qualitative and quantitative data have been gathered by means of a questionnaire consisting of two parts. The first part of the questionnaire consists of 20 close-ended items of Teachers’ Attitude Scale Towards Educational Research (TASTER). The second part of the questionnaire has been developed by the researchers via an extensive literature review and consists of a mixture of close- and open-ended questions. In addition, 15 language teachers have been interviewed for an in-depth understanding of the results. Descriptive statistics and dual comparisons have been employed for the quantitative data, and the qualitative data have been analyzed by means of content analysis. The present study provides intriguing information as to the English language teachers’ perceptions of the usefulness and practicality of ER as well as the value they attain to it. The findings are discussed in relation to language teacher education. The research has implications for the teacher education process, teacher trainers and policy makers.

Keywords: attitudes toward educational research, educational research, language teachers, teacher research

Procedia PDF Downloads 229

Authors: Abuzer Akgün, Ümit Duruk

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This study was carried out in a period of four weeks thanks to voluntarily participation of twenty eight pre-service teachers enrolled diverse departments in Faculty of Education. The purpose of the study was to point out how pre-service teachers views on environmental education were affected by field trips. Prior to data collection, four open-ended questions were prepared and administered to all pre-service teachers in the working group. Data gathered at first and final week of the field trip were compared in a qualitative approach using content analysis. In conclusion, it is obvious that most of the participants don’t feel themselves quiet enough about environmental education and state this reason as a providing justification to participate voluntarily in the study. In the secondary school teaching context, they mostly emphasize on the vital importance of the environmental awareness level of the pupils in the schools. They also seem to think that they get a detailed knowledge of environmental education and claim that they will use this knowledge in order to bring up next generations in their professional career as teachers. Lastly, they state that observing the deteriorating materials directly in their own settings, might be more effective as regards improving environmental awareness.

Keywords: science education, environmental education, environmental issues, field trip method

Procedia PDF Downloads 332